Teacher ‘threatened’ by parents for talking to kids about LGBT rights
A primary school teacher has said he is being threatened by parents for teaching children about LGBT rights.
Andrew Moffat, who is gay, told the BBC he has received emails and threats for talking about homophobia to his class at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham.
Protests have taken place outside the school against Moffat’s teachings, by parents who say he is promoting his “personal beliefs” and shouldn’t be teaching children about gender identity.
A petition against Moffat’s teachings has also been launched.
One threat he received said he “wouldn’t last long”.
Moffat, who launched the No Outsiders project in 2014 to educate children about acceptance, said: “I’ve had some nasty emails, I’ve had some comments on messenger.
“I have felt very threatened… it’s been a challenging couple of weeks.
A support network for LGBT+ teachers was launched last year (Pexels)
“However, what keeps me going is the support from the school which is absolutely brilliant, the DfE, Ofsted, the city council.
“There are lots of people recognising that this work is important and that’s what you have to hold on to.”
Last June, a support network for LGBT+ teachers was launched following the 30th anniversary of the Thatcher government enacting the controversial Section 28.
LGBTed will provide an an online community for queer teachers and help create role models in schools.
It was launched by Daniel Gray, gay teacher, who came out to 1,000 students at his school in February last year, and Hannah Jepson, director of assessment and selection at Ambition School Leadership, a national education charity.
Speaking to PinkNews, Gray said: “LGBTed is a timely intervention that will build a network of LGBT+ teachers and leaders – empowering them to be authentic in schools, colleges and universities – to support students and to be an advocate for increasing LGBT+ visibility in our education system.”
“It will affect real change for teachers and leaders in order to make schools more inclusive.”
Gray, a teacher at Harris Academy South Norwood in south London, added: “When I was at school, during the time of Section 28, I was bullied in the most horrific ways for being gay before I even knew that I was.”
“When I reported it to teachers, I was just told: ‘it’s something you have to deal with.’ They were forbidden from discussing it.”
