A MAN who was bullied for his sexuality is to take on a gruelling race to help others who are being stigmatised.
Joe McGurk, 22, will be running a half marathon, sky-diving and shaving his head in an effort to raise funds to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender school kids.
Glasgow man Joe, who works as an MSP's assistant, will take on the mammoth tasks on October 14 to support the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign, which works to eliminate homophobic bullying in schools.
Joe said: "TIE is such an emotionally compelling and charged campaign and it is spearheaded by two of the most passionate campaigners I have ever met.
"As someone who was bullied for being ‘different’, the TIE campaign is something both I and my secondary school could have done with whilst growing up."
Recent research from TIE highlighted that nine out of ten LGBT pupils reported experiencing homophobia at school, while 27 per cent had attempted suicide as a result of being bullied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Any funds raised will be put towards funding teacher training across Scotland, to equip teachers with the skills to talk about LGBT issues and tackle homophobia in the classroom.
A TIE spokesman said: "As we are unfunded, acts like this are the lifeblood of our campaign and we are very appreciative of efforts to support our work.
"Any funds raised by Joe will go towards funding our upcoming teacher training event in Aberdeen, where we will be equipping teachers with the skills to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and to make their classrooms more LGBTI inclusive.
"We wish Joe the best of luck.”
To sponsor Joe, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/joemcgurktiecampaign
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