What is the solution to the contention between Muslim parents in the UK and schools that teach LGBT-related curriculum?
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/02/uk/birmingham-lgbtq-school-protests-gbr-intl/index.html
Essentially, in the UK, primary school students are taught about same-sex relationships and other LGBT topics in a non-sexual manner. Many Muslim parents are opposed to this non-traditional curriculum and have been pulling their children out of class, protesting, and harassing teachers.
The schools claim they are not “promoting LGBT, just like we’re not promoting being Christian, being black, being disabled or any other part of the Equality Act. We promote understanding about everyone. We are showing children that there are different kinds of people around us and we respect everyone, no matter what background you are from or they are from.”
This is an interesting situation because here you have two minority groups who are diametrically opposed: who gets to win out? I’m not from the UK, so I don’t know too much about what they teach in school there or what the overall attitude toward Islamic culture is, but this seems like a dicey issue with no clear solution.
I will say that I was raised in a liberal area of the U.S. and I did not learn anything about homosexuality or same-sex relationships until a student brought up a question about it in middle school sex ed. It was never talked about in school. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Certainly I think it deserves a mention in sex ed. That was around the time I was realizing I was gay and a discussion about it might have made me feel less distressed and confused about what I was feeling. I’m not sure that it’s necessary for younger kids to learn about same-sex relationships or be taught that they’re “okay” by the schools, though.
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13 Answers
Same-sex relationships and marriages are real. They are happening. They should be taught in schools and talked about at home in terms that demonstrate respect and acceptance.
If young children are taught about fictional characters like Santa Claus, why can’t they hear that 2 people who happen to be the same gender love each other? It’s not difficult. The only reason to censor information about same-sex couples is homophobia. Period. Same-sex relationships should be celebrated in exactly the same ways heterosexual relationships are. Anything less is homophobia.
They need to deal with it.
Just like any other group that doesn’t like the subject matter, or methods, taught in public school, they are free to homeschool their kids, or pay for them to go to private school. It’s pretty simple.
By protesting, the parents are doing more to publicize same sex relationships than if they ignored the issue. The claim is that only .5% of the curriculum deals with the issue. That seems perfectly reasonable.
Same thing I’d say to those intolerant, hateful Christian parents who would whine about the same thing: Homeschool them or cough up the tuition for a private school.
As stated they are free to enroll their children elsewhere.
In earlier times in the UK, Christian religion was taught in state run schools. Jewish or other children were allowed to not participate. This was taken out of the curriculum at some point; I don’t know which year. One possible compromise in this issue would be that Muslim children’s parents be allowed to opt them out of the sex ed classes although I think this solution, like the prior one for other minority religions, could make a child feel stigmatized. But it is a possible compromise.
I do think it is a natural part of the curriculum and should be taught. When my grandson Jake was six, he asked his Dad about two men who were married and my son told him, “Just like men and women sometimes love each other and want to get married, two men or two women can love each other and want to live together or get married.” Then we went back to eating pizza.
In my area, parents are able to opt-out on several things and classes like Sex Ed, gym class/ dressing out, etc… Sounds like the best option to me.
It’s once again a classic case of parents underestimating their children. Forcing their questionable moral code onto them & their right to a diverse, modern education.
It’s a sad state of affairs which at best displays snowflake levels of uncalled for protection & at worst, an ugly culture of intolerance & homophobic tendencies.
@ucme Many muslims in your area? I read that the culture is very anti-LGBTQ and they often do hetero marriages like some Christian sects do.
We all “force” our moral codes on our kids @ucme. Including you. Sometimes for the positive, sometimes for the negative.
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@KNOWITALL I live in a very small town but there are plenty of Muslim families in the surrounding area. Their culture is very much hetero orientated it’s true.
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