The Government has rejected pressure from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to ensure that schools do not distribute homophobic material.
Under the Equality Act 2010, schools cannot discriminate against individuals on the grounds of their sexual orientation. However, since the Act become law some schools have continued to allow homophobic material to be distributed, prompting the TUC’s General Secretary last December to petition Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, to take action.
An example that the TUC highlighted of a school circulating homophobic literature included a faith school in Lancashire distributing a booklet in 2010 entitled “Pure Manhood: How to become the man God wants you to be” that discussed a boy dealing with “homosexual attractions”, which it suggested may “stem from an unhealthy relationship with his father, an inability to relate to other guys, or even sexual abuse”.
The booklet also claimed that “scientifically speaking, safe sex is a joke” and explained that “the homosexual act is disordered, much like contraceptive sex between heterosexuals. Both acts are directed against God’s natural purpose for sex – babies and bonding”.
Michael Gove has now responded to the TUC stating that the Equality Act does not extend to the content of school’s curriculum.
Reacting to the news, Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain said ‘Homophobia is worse within the faith school sector, but it is an issue that must be tackled in all schools, and a great many students and staff in this country endure a concealed miserable experience in educational establishments. The Government must therefore take firm action to ensure that schools challenge prejudice and actively promote an acceptance of sexual diversity.
‘If however they continue to permit overtly homophobic material to be circulated then they will make a non-sense of the 2010 Equality Act and their intention expressed in the 2010 coalition agreement to “especially” tackle homophobia in schools, as this will only give a green light to those that want to avoid challenging homophobia, and even worse still, a green light to those that want to promote it.
Notes
Stonewall’s 2007 ‘The School Report‘ showed that two thirds of young gay people at secondary schools have experienced homophobic bullying, but in faith schools that figure rises to three in four. The report also showed that lesbian and gay pupils who attended faith schools were 23% less likely to report bullying than those at non-faith schools.
Page 29 of ‘The Coalition: our programme for Government‘ stated “We will help schools tackle bullying in schools, especially homophobic bullying.”
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