Western Isles council rejects official sex ed in favour of Catholic teaching

Vote came after ministers on Lewis said parents and teachers unhappy about government-backed materials

The Western Isles has been hit by a fresh row over the influence of churches on public policy after councillors voted to endorse a Catholic manual on teaching sex education and relationships in schools.

A large majority of councillors on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (CnES) backed a motion “commending” Roman Catholic teaching materials, which uphold an orthodox Catholic stance against sexual intercourse outside heterosexual marriage.

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Government issues gender identity guidance for teachers in England

Pupils must not be told they might be a different gender based on personality or clothes

Teachers should not tell children that they might be a different gender based on their personality or the clothes they want to wear, new guidance from the Department for Education states.

The guidance, published on Thursday, notes teachers in England must not “reinforce harmful stereotypes” and resources used to discuss topics involving gender and biological sex should be “age-appropriate and evidence based”.

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Don’t ‘celebrate’ gay people, just accept us, says teacher at centre of schools row

A year on from the protests in Birmingham, Andrew Moffat is still promoting his No Outsiders programme – with a twist

Andrew Moffat, the gay teacher targeted by Muslim anti-LGBT protesters at Parkfield community school in Birmingham, is wearing his usual rainbow lanyard and says he feels safe again. A year on from the ugly scenes outside the school gate, his hands no longer tremble, there have been no recent death threats, and he doesn’t have to call home when he arrives at work each morning.

He’s just published his second book, No Outsiders: Everyone Different, Everyone Welcome, a new version of his award-winning lessons on equality, No Outsiders.

Related: There is never a reason for bigotry at the school gates | Kenan Malik

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Don’t ‘celebrate’ gay people, just accept us, says teacher at centre of schools row

A year on from the protests in Birmingham, Andrew Moffat is still promoting his No Outsiders programme – with a twist

Andrew Moffat, the gay teacher targeted by Muslim anti-LGBT protesters at Parkfield community school in Birmingham, is wearing his usual rainbow lanyard and says he feels safe again. A year on from the ugly scenes outside the school gate, his hands no longer tremble, there have been no recent death threats, and he doesn’t have to call home when he arrives at work each morning.

He’s just published his second book, No Outsiders: Everyone Different, Everyone Welcome, a new version of his award-winning lessons on equality, No Outsiders.

Related: There is never a reason for bigotry at the school gates | Kenan Malik

Continue reading…

Don’t ‘celebrate’ gay people, just accept us, says teacher at centre of schools row

A year on from the protests in Birmingham, Andrew Moffat is still promoting his No Outsiders programme – with a twist

Andrew Moffat, the gay teacher targeted by Muslim anti-LGBT protesters at Parkfield community school in Birmingham, is wearing his usual rainbow lanyard and says he feels safe again. A year on from the ugly scenes outside the school gate, his hands no longer tremble, there have been no recent death threats, and he doesn’t have to call home when he arrives at work each morning.

He’s just published his second book, No Outsiders: Everyone Different, Everyone Welcome, a new version of his award-winning lessons on equality, No Outsiders.

Related: There is never a reason for bigotry at the school gates | Kenan Malik

Continue reading…

Birmingham school row: ‘This is made out to be just Muslims v gays. It’s not’

As the new term starts, and a court case looms, teachers, parents and demonstrators at Birmingham’s Anderton Park primary tell their side of the story

“People of quality respect equality,” says Aisha, shyly sticking rainbow feathers on to the peace posters she’s just made. The teenager is one of half a dozen Muslim pupils from South and City College Birmingham attending a creative workshop promoting LGBTQ rights in the city.

They are joined by Muslim girls and women, mothers, students and refugees, who have crammed into the Ort gallery to meet and collaborate with members of the local Muslim LGBTQ community. A two-year-old careers between the tables, which are scattered with paint pens, rainbow paper and pots of glue. One mother in a niqab who homeschools her three children tells me she’s here to make sure they understand “how to respect other people who might be different”. Another, a migrant from Iraq, listens carefully to the experience of Mayzar Shirali, who runs a Persian LGBT asylum and refugee support network, and is hoping today is “an icebreaker”.

It isn’t an ‘LGBT programme’. What we have are books … with a representation of all families

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At last, a generation of schoolchildren will grow up knowing it’s OK to be LGBT | Paul Twocock

Next year, all primary schools must teach pupils that different types of families exist. It is a great step forward for society

Students across the country are heading back to school this week, and while this might not seem momentous, for Stonewall, this school year marks the beginning of the end of a decades-long campaign to get an inclusive education system in England. In September 2020, new regulations for teaching relationships and sex education (RSE) in English schools come into force. It will be a landmark moment – a whole generation will attend schools that not only accept LGBT people and same-sex relationships, but also celebrate and offer support on the issues that young LGBT people face.

The guidance means that primary schools will teach about different families, which of course includes LGBT families. Contrary to what’s been said by some online and in the media, this is just about showing kids that families can have two mums or two dads. Or to put another way: different families, same love.

Related: LGBT classes: we aren’t getting back in the closet, MP says

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‘We aren’t getting back in the closet’ says Angela Eagle in impassioned LGBT speech – video

The former Labour minister Angela Eagle gave a passionate LGBT speech during a Commons debate on Tuesday, in which she said ‘we aren’t going to get back in the closet’. Eagle was challenging those protesting against LGBT equality teaching in schools. Eagle, who was the first openly lesbian female MP when she came out in 1997, said such education is not ‘propagandising’ or about ‘trying to turn people gay’, but about respecting their rights to have an ‘equal welcome in school’ and not be bullied

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LGBT classes: we aren’t getting back in the closet, MP says

Angela Eagle challenges those protesting against LGBT equality teaching during Commons debate

Former Labour minister Angela Eagle has insisted: “We aren’t going to get back in the closet,” as she challenged those protesting against LGBT equality teaching during a Commons debate.

Eagle, who was the first openly gay female MP when she came out in 1997, said such education is not “propagandising” or about “trying to turn people gay”, but about respecting their rights to have an “equal welcome in school” and not be bullied.

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Labour colleagues outraged after MP Roger Godsiff backs anti-LGBT protest

MP reported to party whip after he told Birmingham school demonstrators ‘you’re right’

The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said she had reported fellow Labour MP Roger Godsiff to the party’s chief whip over comments about LGBT teaching in schools, as other party colleagues criticised him for saying “you’re right” to protesters against such teaching at a Birmingham primary school.

“This might be the personal views of Mr Roger Godsiff but they do not represent the Labour Party & are discriminatory & irresponsible,” Rayner wrote on Twitter.

Related: ‘We can’t give in’: the Birmingham school on the frontline of anti-LGBT protests

Related: Progressive Muslims, Jews and Christians must stand together for LGBT rights | Michael Segalov

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