While many schools now trumpet their anti-bullying policies, it seems one group of victims are being left largely unprotected, as Nick Morrison discovers.

STEPHEN'S school days ended as they had begun - blighted by bullying. Almost without exception, every day from the age of 11 to 18 saw him suffer at the hands of the bullies, from name-calling and spitting, to being beaten up and pelted with missiles, including scissors.

His teachers knew what was going on, but did little to stop it, and Stephen believes the reason they failed to act was that he was being bullied because he was gay.

"It was hell. It stemmed from as far back as I can remember to the day I left sixth form last year. It got worse and worse and worse," he says. "Everyone in school knew my name and they thought I was gay and it was just horrible. Every time I walked down the corridor at school someone would say something.

"People would come up to me and say 'You're Stephen aren't you? You're a big poof.' I had never seen these people before and it was so scary. One time I walked from my register class to my first lesson - a very short distance - and in that time ten people said something to my face.

"It is not a nice feeling when you are coming into school every day and you have got to deal with people on the gates and in the corridors.

"There was one time I needed to get the school bus - which I never normally did - and sat at the front, and there was a big group at the back and they were throwing things in my direction, and spitting and calling me names. One girl got a pair of scissors and threw them and the bus driver did nothing to stop it."

But when Stephen complained to the school the next day, he was met with indifference and no action was taken. Although some teachers were sympathetic, this response was the pattern through his schooldays.

"Some of the teachers didn't want to do anything because they were scared, others really tried but they were held back by the headmistress. At one point I was told it was my fault because I never reported any names, but I never knew their names."

When he was 16, Stephen - not his real name - went to a youth group run by Mesmac in Newcastle and came into contact with other gay men for the first time. Mesmac, which provides advice and help for gay and bisexual men, wrote to the school offering support in overcoming the problem, but their only response was to tell Stephen he shouldn't get outsiders involved.

"The school said whenever an incident happened I should report it, but I did that for a year and nothing ever happened, so I decided just to keep my head down and get on with my school work. I had put up with bullying for six or seven years so I thought one more year would not do any harm.

"On my last day in sixth form, the lower sixth got loads of water bombs and absolutely drenched me. It was 'You faggot, take this.' That is how it ended - how it began. I was so relieved to get away from that school."

Stephen's experience was far from unusual among gay men at school, according to research carried out by Mesmac North-East. A survey of gay men at youth groups in Newcastle, Durham and Middlesbrough found that four out of five had been bullied at school because they were gay. Although verbal abuse was more common, three quarters had suffered physical abuse.

This follows research carried out two years ago by Dr Ian Rivers, at the College of Ripon and York St John, which found that one in six lesbians and gays who were bullied at school suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in later life.

Mesmac also surveyed 200 secondary schools in Teesside, County Durham, Tyneside and Northumberland about their approach to homophobic bullying.

Howard Ford, community development worker for young gay and bisexual men, says the results showed that four out of ten schools knew they had lesbian or gay pupils, and 95 per cent were aware of homophobic language being used to bully gay children, with half of them saying this happened at least every week.

"That didn't surprise us, but it does indicate that there is a massive problem," says Howard. "It means that if you are a young lesbian, gay or bisexual person growing up in the North-East you are going to be surrounded by, and more than likely subjected to, homophobic abuse on a very frequent basis."

In more than one in five schools, teachers were aware that homophobic bullying took a physical form. "I think that is just the tip of the iceberg. Research in the past has shown that young people who are being bullied are very reluctant to tell the teachers and very reluctant to tell them why," Howard says.

While almost all schools had an anti-bullying policy, in only one in seven did this refer to homophobic bullying, and in less than one in five schools did the teachers have any training in dealing with homophobic bullying.

Howard believes one of the reasons for teachers' reluctance to get involved is their misapprehension over the infamous Section 28, introduced at the height of hysteria over the activities of "loony left" councils in the 1980s. The clause prohibits local authorities from "promoting homosexuality", but subsequent changes mean it no longer applies to schools. And Government guidance urged schools to refer to bullying on the grounds of sexual orientation in their anti-bullying policies.

But a further problem may also lie in the attitudes of teachers and school governors - either unwilling to intervene in case the victim is singled out even further, or through their own prejudices.

"Young people's experiences of homophobic bullying in schools have a profound effect on their emotional and mental health, and also on their academic achievement," Howard says. "If you are being bullied on a regular basis, you're going to stop going to school, your work is going to suffer and your self-confidence and self-esteem are going to plummet.

"Schools need to make it clear that they won't tolerate homophobic bullying and the victims need to know that if they report it they will be supported. We have to recognise that it is a specific form of bullying. We also need to provide training for teachers to give them the confidence to tackle homophobic bullying. I think part of the problem is that schools don't fully understand the extent of the problem or the implications it has for the young people."

For Stephen, now 19, his experiences have left him scarred, but unbowed. Unlike some victims who drop out of school, he completed his GCSEs and A-levels, and this autumn goes to university.

"Sometimes you get immune to it and you don't take it on board any more, but you can only take so much before it sends you over the edge," he says. "I would get the odd kick at school, but that was no big deal. I'm proud that I was successful at school given what happened, but I totally hated it."

* Mesmac North-East can be contacted on 0191-233 1333