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Loading ...Parents could face criminal charges for opposing gay history month
03.09.2009 11:46am EDT
(London) Parents who removed their children from a London elementary school over lessons marking LGBT history month could face prosecution, officials say.
The UK observes gay history month in February each year and schools are encouraged to mark it with special classes as a way to teach tolerance.More than 30 students were pulled out of classes at the George Tomlinson School in East London. The area is made up mainly of immigrant families, many of them Muslim.
Among the parents objecting to the classes was Pervez Latif, who kept his 9- and 10-year-old sons from going to school throughout the week.
“I didn’t want my children to be learning about this,” Latif said.
He said that he wrote a letter to the school explaining his objections and was told the children would be listed as truants if they were not in class.
The law allows for 19 excused days a year – additional days a student is not in class are viewed as truancy. But the school regards the removal of the students as an unexcused absence.
The penalties range from a fine to criminal charges.
“If I am faced with court action, then I will just explain that these are my views,” said Latif.
Special gay history lessons at the school ranged from references to famous gays and gay events in history classes to reading age appropriate books in literature classes.
Two gay-themed books were read in primary classes – ” King and King,” about a prince who falls in love with another prince, and “Tango Makes Three,” about two male penguins, Roy and Silo, who fall in love and adopt a baby penguin at a New York zoo.
Sarah Saeed was another of the parents who removed their child from the school for the week.
“It is not an appropriate age for the children to be learning such matters. We have our own way of explaining things to them and they should not be subjected to this,” she said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the school said no decision had been made on seeking charges against the parents.
“As part of the borough’s policy of promoting tolerance in our schools, children are taught that everyone in our society is of equal value,” the statement said.
Senora,
My dear? You are a racist.
Enjoy your day.
I’m very sad to see people reacting with hate towards the Muslim people who pulled their kids out of the school, completely ignoring the other (non-muslim) example given in the article. I’m sure the neo-nazi’s are ecstatic watching the rest of us tear each other down like that.
The Muslims are getting the bulk of the criticism here for a very, very good reason. When you follow GLBT politics on a regular basis, the 3 biggest religious groups who cause GLBT people the most problems are Muslimes, “traditional” catholics and conservative Christians (or varying beliefs). However, when you follow the degree and extent of the hostility directed at GLBT people on a global level, Muslimes take their ignorance and hatred to a very disturbed higher level. Add to this all the stories over the years of Muslims who come into a country with Western Civilization sensibilities and who then attempt to force that country to accomdate their divisive sensibilities is justification for all the red-flags that show up on posts like this. My feeling is that if Muslims don’t like that a given country has civil protections for GLBT people, that WILL be enforced, then they should NOT go to that country. That country would not doubt be far better off without them.
@ SENORA. OMG! You are a r@cist towards muslims. Whats the difference between you and a homophobe again???. You are crying equality, equality, equality and you use such a racial slur?
@ CHRIS SULLIVAN. You have a point regarding homophobia among the Islam. I guess its coz of what the ‘kuran’ teaches them. But, you are not condoning using racial slurs against them as SENORA did. I noticed that you did not address that. I mean we cant confront hate by being hateful.It doesn’t work that way. I’m very uncomfortable with any kind of hate, be it directed to gay folks, religious or ethnic minorities.
Name calling is counter-productive.
However, when people read how increased Mulsim populations in certain countries has lead toward increased tensions for the people already living there, especially among GLBT people, it’s hard not to appreciate their concern. In fact, I’d say it’s quite justified.
When you add to that how utterly evil GLBT people are treated in Muslim countries, then their anger is more than justified. True, name calling helps nothing – but I think it is to some extent an acknowledgment of the anger, anxiety and concern with feeling that the same dynamic could occur in your own country.
We have enough groups creating tension and division… conservatives, strident catholics and now Mormons… the last thing we need is an influx of people who are even more strident in their divisive views. By all means, people should feel free to come to the U.S. – LEGALLY! – but they should also acknowledge that the U.S. DOES have a culture and an identity (as varied as it may be) and isn’t going to react kindly any new influx of people creating even more problems. If people come here and attempt to force the U.S. to accomodate it’s foreign and divisive sensibilities, then they had better expect a very well deserved backlash. If that’s the case, perhaps everybody would probably be better off if they stayed where they were.
This is where liberal ideology paired with mandatory education goes off the rails, undercutting our equal rights goals by creating a backlash and a sympathy for the backlash.
You can’t expect every citizen to quietly submit to every enforced edcational message when it conflicts with their religious beliefs. It astounds me that so many liberals have gotten on this foolish train.
Government-mandated education should evolve into government-supported optional education for those families who want it. Those who don’t want to have their kids educated by the state? Well, that’s their right as parents, methinks.
The UK, in its wisdom, has decided that GLBT people are EQUAL to other people, not less than, not to be marginalized and that it is in the best interest of the PUBLIC school children to be exposed to the contributions of GLBT people just the same way they are exposed to the history and accomplishments of other groups of people. Parents have always maintained the rite to enroll their children in private or religious schools if the public school systems support of ALL of its stedents offends them so much. I dare say that the “backlash” which is alluded to here will actually be against the people who are anti-gay, not the other way around. This is the U.K., not the U.S.
Chris Sullivan – Your putting “public” in CAPS, does nothing to dissuade me that it should primarily the responsiblity of the parents, not the gov’t, to ensure that they are educated. A parental choice to see fit how their kids are raised. Not a government order.
And the backlash in the US from this case will be against gays, so, thanks for that, over-reaching gov’t of England.
Ben – Nobody is attempting to “dissuade” you of anything. You have your opinion and I have mine. I think what the U.K. is doing is consistent with the lessons that are taught for other groups of people and as I stated, there are other options for parents if they are so conerned that their children might be educated in an understanding of the knids of people they are going to meet in real life. Sorry, but no, the “backlash” you reference, which isn’t likely to materialize anyway, would not be against gays. People who are going to be anti-gay here in the U.S. will continue to be and they will focus on this story as they do every other one that suits their purpose, it’s called “selective attention”. Those who are not anti-gay won’t give this story any mind as they will expect anti-GLBT people to react this way. After decades of seeing how these kinds of stories play themselves out, people are a bit wiser as to what to expect. I do think that to some extent you are using this story to rail against liberals, which is your rite, I just don’t happen to agree.
@CHRIS SULLIVAN. I am sorry but I have respectfully disagree with you. America is homophobic even without the ‘influx of Islamic immigrants coming in’. BTW, unless you are a native American then you are also a child, grandchild etc of an Immigrant!.So quit the immigration BS. America is a free country for anyone who wants to come here, LEGALLY of course,nobody’s going to be asking immigrants at the Embassy how gay friendly they are before letting them into the promised land. Most Americans already have an issue with the issue of homosexuality even with out the Muslims. Don’t condone racism just because “it’s justifiable to be mad at muslims”.
Senora, you’re crazy. Do you expect fundie Christians in American to embrace this policy with open arm or to say something nice about it?lol Fundies are fundies regardless of their faith or belief.
And you are one of them.
The fact that the area consists of mostly immigrant families doesn’t automatically mean that all/most of the families who pulled their kids are immigrants. And, it’s interesting that people of colour who might be in fact be British citizens (London’s full of British citizens who are, horrors, people of colour) are immediately marked as immigrants. A person of colour is not automatically an immigrant just because he/she lives in a predominantly white country (less so than ever before). This is not to say that a)a number of people who pulled their kids out of the program were not immigrants b)that the people of colour were not immigrants. And the names of the parents noted so far are, yes, Muslim in origin.
But the article insinuates, without any numbers, that the parents who pulled their kids out of the program were both Muslim and immigrants. Even if this turns out to be the case, 365gay.com has no business disseminating such shoddy “journalism.” And I can’t even begin to discuss the fact that to pull your kid out of a class about LGBTQ issues is not always simple homophobia.
I just love, love, love the way the gay community (which automatically marks itself as white) loves to jump on the idea that immigrants/people of colour are just inherently homophobic. Because, as we all know, white people are absolutely incapable of homophobia.
NOTE TO THE EDITOR – Can I please stress this is NOT an religous issue and the above report is inaccurate, The concerned parents are from all backgrounds. The area is also not mainly made up from ‘immigrant’ familes.
The manner in which SRE education was rolled out at the school has invariably led to anxiety and upset amongst many of the parents of all faiths and backgrounds! The teaching of SRE is a sensitive and important subject, many parents feel thier children are far too young and innocent to understand the compexity of the issues raised.
Parents are not seeking to ban the teaching of the topic simply asking for the choice and right of allowing an opt out clause for those parents who knowing their children feel this would be a subject better taught either by themselves or at a stage of development more suited to their childs ablity to understand better the concepts being introduced.