Jordan Daly

Jordan Daly is a Scottish campaigner and co founder of the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) charity. His activity focuses mainly on homophobic bullying in schools and LGBT education. He was awarded LGBT Role Model of the Year at the 2017 Icon Awards, ^[1] named as one of the "top ten biggest players in Scottish education" by TES magazine and Young Scot of the Year 2018 at the Young Scot Awards. ^[2]

Background

Daly is gay and has spoken openly about mental health and his suicidal thoughts during his teenage years as a consequence of experiencing homophobia at school. He graduated from the University of Glasgow and began his campaigning activity during his studies when he was 19 years old. ^[3]

TIE Activism

Daly and Liam Stevenson founded Time for Inclusive Education (known as the TIE campaign) in June 2015. They met and began their political activity during the Scottish independence referendum. ^[4] The pair are credited with winning gains for the LGBT community in relation to education, including achieving the support of the Scottish Parliament for their cause ^[5] and the creation of a Scottish Government LGBT education working group of which both are currently members. ^[6]

In 2018 the group proposed policy recommendations to the Scottish Government, all of which were accepted, making Scotland the first country in the world to include LGBT themes in the curriculum for all public schools. Daly and Stevenson publicly stated that their campaigning efforts had been successful. ^[7]

With Ian Rivers and Stevenson, Daly contributed a chapter covering the extent of online homophobic bullying and harassment experienced by school pupils in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic in ‘Cyberbullying and Online Harms’. ^[8]

In 2025, TIE partnered with global think thank Institute for Strategic Dialogue in Germany to develop and launch the Digital Discourse Initiative, a project providing schools in Scotland with tools and strategies to counter the effects of online hate and disinformation on children and young people. ^[9]

Daly discussed the impact of his campaigning activity in the interview to recognise the tenth anniversary of TIE in the summer of 2025, stating that “there is now a willingness, across education, to discuss and address homophobia in schools with confidence, and there is an understanding that this is about ensuring all pupils and families are included at school.” ^[10]

References

1. "Winners 2017 Icon Awards". Icon Awards. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
2. Hepburn, Henry; Seith, Emma; Belgutay, Julia (22 December 2017). "The top 10 biggest players in Scottish education this year". TES. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
3. Burnside, Anna. "Glasgow student campaigns to raise awareness and train teachers in schools about LBGTI issues as he tells of childhood struggles". Scottish Daily Record.
4. Rodgers, Hannah (17 September 2015). "The Independence Referendum finally gave us a voice". Evening Times. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
5. Freeman, Tom (27 February 2017). "Scottish Parliament will be First in Europe to back LGBTI Inclusive Education, Reports TIE Campaign". Holyrood Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017.
6. Paterson, Kirsteen. "Scottish Government reveal working group to tackle anti-LGBT school bullying". The Scottish National.
7. Robinson, Matthew. "Scotland becomes first country to back teaching LGBTI issues in schools". CNN. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
8. Cowie, Helen; Myers, Carrie-Anne, eds. (2023). Cyberbullying and online harms: preventions and interventions from community to campus. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN   978-1-003-25860-5.
9. "New school resource to fight online hate and disinformation". The Herald. 29 January 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
10. "Inside the ten year campaign for LGBT-inclusive education". The Herald. 20 July 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025.