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“Slap in the face” to parents

“Slap in the face” to parents

Safe at School reacts angrily to Damian Hinds’ ruling that parents have to ask the headteacher’s permission to withdraw their children from sex education

SPUC Safe at School, a leading parents’ advocacy group, has reacted angrily to Damian Hinds’ statement today on sex education, in particular his emphasis on ‘LGBT issues’ and the fact that the Government has reneged on his promise to protect what’s left of parental rights by giving head teachers the decision-making over whether children should be withdrawn from sex education.

Dr Tom Rogers, co-ordinator of the Safe at School campaign, stated: “It is a slap in the face for parents that they now have to ask the head teacher’s permission to protect their children from forms of sex education they regard as damaging to their children. Only a parent knows what is ‘age appropriate’ because every child is different.”

Dr Rogers went on to say: “The introduction of the new subject ‘Health Education’, as well as ‘Relationships Education’, could be seen as soft packaging around the real agenda of sexualisation of children and LGBT propaganda.

“Of course, we are concerned about the physical and mental welfare of children, but we know that the sort of relationships and sex education being proposed is contributing to these problems. We mean to make sure that parents fully understand what these new compulsory school subjects are really about”.

Dr Rogers continued: “We’ve already seen the major educational publisher Pearson’s pledging to make school text books ‘LGBT friendly’. Pupils will confront LGBT propaganda in almost every subject they study. This is not education, it is indoctrination”.

“Even the Government admits that this is not what the overwhelming majority want. In the Department of Education’s brief report on its earlier public Call for Evidence they acknowledge that only a ‘small number’ of respondents supported teaching primary school children about ‘gender and sexual identity’ and that this was a ‘controversial viewpoint’. A far greater proportion of respondents supported natural marriage and the family as the most important focus of relationships education. This implies that the Government are not taking into account the views of those who responded, especially parents’.

“The Government’s plans are a massive invasion of parental rights. Sex education is intimate and individual; it is a parent’s right and duty to explain sex to their own child in line with their own values, or to decide what their child is taught and when. The state is further trying take over the parenting of our own children. Far from keeping them ‘safe’ the evidence shows that this side-lining of parents is making our children more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation”.

“A 12 week consultation on the new guidelines has been launched just as the schools break up for the summer. We will be making sure that parents are fully informed and equipped to tell the government what they think of the new guidelines”.

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