A cabinet minister has been criticised for saying parents should be able to choose when their children are “exposed” to information about LGBT people.
Appearing on LBC radio this morning, Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, said parents should be able to “withdraw their children from classes up until a certain age”.
She was quizzed on the issue of LGBT education after four more Birmingham schools stopped teaching lessons about diversity and LGBT issues following complaints by parents.
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The schools suspended the No Outsiders programme, where children are taught about diversity, tolerance and acceptance, in broad lessons encompassing LGBT rights, same-sex relationships, gender identity, race, religion and colour.
Ms Leadsom said: “My party has done a huge amount to support LGBT rights and quite rightly too.
“I’m a massive supporter of the efforts we’ve made to achieve real equality in LGBT rights. It’s absolutely vital that children grow up understanding the society that they live in and they grow up tolerant and seeking equality, and respecting difference…it’s right that the government should have passed legislation that requires that relationship and sex education is taught in schools.”
However, she added: “At the same time, I agree that it’s right that parents should be able to choose the moment at which their children become exposed to that information, and there’s steps taken to enable parents to withdraw their children from classes up until a certain age.”
Asked whether five-year-olds could be taught about LGBT issues, Ms Leadsom said: “I don’t believe that is the case.”
She said she was happy that her own children were taught about different types of families at school. “For many parents, myself included, I would be entirely happy for my children to grow up finding that their LGBT classmates are exactly the same as them,” she said.
“One of my own kids was in a class with a friend who had two mums, and that was absolutely normal, right from a young age, and I think it’s really important that we absolutely accept equality in every area, while at the same time respecting parents may have concerns about how young their children are when they become aware of these things”.
Ofsted has concluded that the No Outsiders programme - which teaches relationship education rather than sex education - is “age-appropriate”.
Ms Leadsom’s comments that parents should be able to withdraw their children from such lessons conflict with the government’s updated SRE guidance - mandatory from September 2020 - which makes it clear that “there is no right to withdraw from relationships education”. Parents can withdraw their children from sex education up until the age of 16.
The Liberal Democrats said Ms Leadsom’s comments came across as “bigoted and offensive”.
Education spokeswoman Layla Moran, said: “What she refers to as being ‘exposed to that information’ is, in fact, children being educated, which is exactly what our schools are there to do. And [children] are being taught to understand and be respectful of all individuals, families and relationships.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon, Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle criticised the remarks as “Conservative dog-whistle comments”.
The No Outsiders programme was developed by Andrew Moffat, assistant headteacher at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham, who has been shortlisted for the $1 million Global Teacher Prize.
Parkfield has put the lessons on hold following protests from Muslim parents.
