Parents of LGBTQ+ children ‘scared’ about current state of the UK for queer kids
Parents of LGBTQ+ children met with MPS at parliament. (FFLAG)
Parents of LGBTQ+ children have called on MPs to fight for the rights of their youngsters.
Five volunteers from FFLAG, a charity dedicated to supporting families and their queer children, led by the chairwoman of trustees, Sarah Furley, raised their concerns at a cross-party event hosted by MPs Anna Dixon and Nadia Whittome on Wednesday (12 February).
At the top of the list of requests was the scrapping of two education policies proposed by the last Conservative government: the draft guidance for gender-questioning children, published in December 2023, and the proposed changes to relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), published last May.
FFLAG members have called the draft on gender questioning children “bad guidance,” claiming that its aim to “out” pupils to parents could “destroy trust, and only do harm to both child and parent”.
‘Unjustified and illogical’
The charity believes that the RSHE changes would be “the equivalent of a new Section 28″, the Thatcher-era legislation that banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in classrooms in England and Wales for more than a decade – a belief shared by many activists, experts and politicians.
Members also called for an immediate withdrawal of the puberty blocker ban, which they described as “unjustified and illogical”, and for a commitment to protect healthcare for trans adults.
‘Parents are scared’
Furley said: “We had hoped the days of needing to lobby parliament for the rights and dignity of our children had passed but sadly here we are again. FFLAG was founded as a campaigning organisation in the 1980s but more recently we have focused on our mission to support parents as they navigate what it means to be a parent of an LGBT+ child.
“Our parents are scared of what is now happening and we will not stand quietly by as new barriers are put in the way of our children’s happiness, health and success.”
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