HOMOPHOBIC school bullies are beating up other teenagers in groups and then posting it on Youtube with their mobile phones. It is the most recent development in the ongoing problem of homophobic bullying, which remains a major issue even as Brent Counci

HOMOPHOBIC school bullies are beating up other teenagers in groups and then posting it on Youtube with their mobile phones.

It is the most recent development in the ongoing problem of homophobic bullying, which remains a major issue even as Brent Council has begun a concerted effort to tackle it.

Youth worker, Lukasz Konieczka said the latest way in which some youngsters were being bullied was through group attacks known as 'rushing,' which are then broadcast on the internet.

Mr Konieczka, who works for the Brent Mosaic Lesbian Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, said: "Now it's more popularised because if you have more mobiles with more and more features you can record and post at the same time.

"It's got so mobile and so instant and into young people's personal space and private time that it's really big now. You can't delete it and you can't respond to it and it is constant."

February is LGBT History Month and Brent Council has been recognising it with events across the borough and an intergenerational walk to Soho. Young people are steps ahead of the adults on the issue of bullying, and have been leading campaigns in secondary schools across the borough.

Students at Kingsbury High School in Princes Avenue, Kingsbury, are the latest to be leading the way on organising workshops, assemblies and awareness-raising campaigns to stop homophobic bullying in its tracks.

Student-led workshops have also begun at Queen's Park Community School, in Brondesbury, and Kenton Manor School in Wembley.

The news follows the release of research by YouGov last year which showed that nationwide nine in ten teachers said homophobic bullying was happening in their secondary schools

It was also revealed that nine in ten teachers said they have never received any specific training on tackling the issue.

Mr Konieczka said the issue was starting to be addressed: "I'm happy to see that there are more and more heads who are saying they are happy to work with students in getting to grips with this.