Council scraps relationship education programme after attacks from anti-LGBT campaigners for ‘promoting experimental transgender ideas’
The Civitas think tank report takes aim at LGBT+ people
Anti-LGBT+ campaigners have claimed victory after a Conservative-controlled council agreed to drop relationship education programme which taught kids that LGBT+ people exist.
Schools across the UK have seen a wave of protests against LGBT-inclusive education following demonstrations last year in Birmingham.
Warwickshire County Council is among those to have come under pressure over LGBT+ resources in its ‘All About Me’ relationship education programme.
The campaign against the curriculum appears to have been led by hardline anti-LGBT+ groups including The Christian Institute, which has lobbied against same-sex marriage, discrimination protections for LGBT+ people, transgender rights and inclusive education.
The group, which had threatened legal action against the council, claimed that the resources were promoting “experimental transgender ideas in schools”.
Meanwhile, a petition against the resource was set up by the so-called ‘Safe Schools Alliance UK’, a group that has received thousands of pounds from anonymous donors via crowdfunding campaigns to fund its efforts lobbying against trans-inclusive relationship and sex education.
According to CoventryLive, the council has now opted to scrap the resources in favour of an “information and signposting offer to schools” — effectively caving in to the demands of the pressure groups.
Warwickshire County Council has reportedly ditched the relationship education programme
The council told CoventryLive that the programme’s replacement will be aligned with the LGBT-inclusive sex and relationships education programme due to be rolled out nationally in September.
A spokesperson said: “This new offer to schools will be aligned with the Department for Education’s national materials and resources to support schools to meet their statutory requirements under the new Relationships & Sex Education regulations.
“These regulations place statutory responsibility upon schools to deliver RSE to meet the needs of their school community.
“Warwickshire County Council continues to be committed to supporting this agenda and to working with schools to help them to deliver this important aspect of education.”
Anti-LGBT+ Christian Institute celebrates victory over ‘transgender ideology’
The Christian Institute has rushed to claim the decision as a victory.
John Denning, education officer at The Christian Institute, said: “Warwickshire’s climbdown will come as welcome news to hundreds of concerned parents. The highly explicit imagery and one-sided ideology of All About Me has no place in Primary Relationships Education.
“Schools are obviously facing a challenging time at the moment. But as soon as they can, they must consult with parents on a different approach to teaching RSE which complies with the law.
“As with other teaching in state schools, it must be balanced, objective and critical, not pushing particular controversial views such as transgender ideology.”
The consistent focus on attacking the “promotion” of gender identity in schools comes 16 years after the repeal of Section 28, a reviled law that banned the so-called “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, which was imposed at the height of a homophobic moral panic in the 1980s.
The Christian Institute also supported Section 28.
A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council told PinkNews: “In line with Government guidance the council has taken the decision to replace its primary school ‘All About Me’(AAM) Relationships & Sex Education (RSE) programme with an information and signposting offer to schools.
“This new offer to schools will be aligned with the Department for Education’s national materials and resources to support schools to meet their statutory requirements under the new Relationships & Sex Education regulations. These regulations place statutory responsibility upon schools to deliver RSE to meet the needs of their school community.
“Warwickshire County Council continues to be committed to supporting this agenda and to working with schools to help them to deliver this important aspect of education.”
