Parents of students at a London school have reportedly submitted a formal complaint against a teacher who told children they’d be “dealt with severely” if they refused to partake in LGBTQ+ classes.
The School Is Very Pro-LGBTQ+
The school already has several events in support of the LGBTQ+ community. The teacher in question, who reportedly identifies as LGBTQ+, told his students they would be “dealt with severely” if they objected to being taught about non-heteronormative relationships.
The Teacher Tried to Open His Students’ Minds
The teacher explained to students that they don’t get to choose the curriculum. Talking to his class about the importance of LGBTQ+ education, he said: “You don’t have a choice whether or not you learn about LGBT issues in this school. It’s one of our values and if you refuse to do it – that will be dealt with severely. If there are people sitting here who don’t agree with what I’m saying, you need to go home and have a conversation with your parents. The only [class] you can be taken out of is sex education – and that’s if your parents speak to me. LGBTQ is not sex education; it is relationships.”
Allegedly, the Parents Who Complained Were Christian
According to reports, the parents who complained about the teacher were Christian. They called the teacher’s comments “indefensible” and accused him of abusing a position of trust. According to the parents, only one student had made a negative comment about LGBTQ+ education.
The Importance of LGBTQ+ Education
There’s a longstanding misconception, rooted in homophobia, that the LGBTQ+ community is inherently sexual. It’s why so many straight parents don’t want their children to learn about the existence of gay people; they think their children are learning about sex when, in reality, they’re just learning about love. Those in support of LGBTQ+ education argue that if it’s acceptable to tell a child that men and women fall in love, it’s acceptable to tell a child that men fall in love with men and women fall in love with women. They argue that LGBTQ+ education is important because it stops homophobic views from forming which, in the long run, saves lives.
LGBTQ+ Education Saves Lives
Experts don’t just say LGBTQ+ education saves lives by stamping out homophobia; they say it saves lives by allowing LGBTQ+ kids to realize they’re not broken – and members of the community agree. One online commenter wrote: “Man, I wish we learned about LGBTQ+ issues when I was at school. I would’ve known that being gay is a thing and that it’s okay, which means I wouldn’t have felt so broken. Straight parents need to realize that gay kids figure out they’re gay and, if they don’t know that being gay is a thing, it absolutely destroys them. Also, straight kids learning about the existence of gay people won’t turn them gay because that’s not how it works. If I’d had those lessons, my future wouldn’t have been delayed by numerous mental health hospitalizations.”
But Plenty of Parents Didn’t Care About the Benefits
Plenty of parents didn’t care about the plethora of documented benefits of LGBTQ+ education. “You know it’s an agenda when teachers stop teaching and start preaching,” one person wrote. “It’s all getting out of hand now,” another said. “I’m so glad my son has left school because you can guarantee they would have an angry parent on their case,” a third added.
LGBTQ+ Education Has Been Debated Across Social Media
LGBTQ+ education has, in recent times, been widely discussed across the internet and in the real world. In a thread started by a Redditor unable to understand why anyone would have an issue with these types of lessons, someone wrote: “I recall reading books in school at a young age about girls and boys having crushes on each other. How is it that that’s okay but it becomes ‘’too adult’ if it’s a same-gender crush?”
Plenty of Redditors Disagreed With the Aforementioned User
Some Redditors disagreed with the aforementioned individual. “Kids should know what LGBTQ orientations are but I disagree that it’s the school who should be educating them in the subject. A child’s parents should be the entity that teaches them about different sexual orientations,” one person wrote.
Some People Felt LGBTQ+ Education Was the Responsibility of the Parent
Plenty of Redditors thought LGBTQ+ education should be the responsibility of the parent, not the teacher. One person wrote: “Children don’t need to learn in advance about every single type of person that exists. You don’t need to prepare them for their first encounter with a black person, or a left-handed person, or a gay couple. It’s as simple as telling them, if they notice and ask, that some people are like that. They should be told matter-of-factly and with no value judgment.”
But LGBTQ+ Redditors Hit Back
LGBTQ+ Redditors quickly argued back. One man wrote: “That’s a big part of why homophobia still exists. Homophobic parents teach their children to be homophobic. I say this as someone that grew up in the Bible Belt with conservative parents that were anti-LGBTQ.”
The Redditor Continued Telling His Story
The Redditor went on to explain that he didn’t realize he was asexual and aromantic until almost a decade after high school. He wrote: “I just thought I was a broken straight guy. Had I received a decent education about sexual orientations when I was in high school, I would’ve figured it out much sooner. But, instead, I had teachers, coaches, and family members tell me that I just needed to go to their church and talk to a pastor about what was ‘wrong’ with me.”
LGBTQ+ Redditors Were Shocked by the Opinions of Straight People
Plenty of LGBTQ+ Redditors couldn’t wrap their heads around the opinions of straight Redditors. One such person wrote: “A lot of these arguments seem to completely ignore the fact that children are LGBT-identifying from a very young age. I knew I was gay by the time I was 8. It would’ve been helpful to have my education include something about people like me because I didn’t have a model to go off of.”
Kids Are Smart
The Redditor continued, going on to suggest children are smarter than parents give them credit for. They said: “Most people assume their kids are dumb but kids learn about sex and sexuality way younger than most people seem to understand. I would rather have an institution teaching a standard of knowledge than have kids learning from porn – because that’s where AskJeeves took me when I was looking up ‘gay’ on my computer at home and I know I’m not the person who looked up the word ‘gay’ when they were 8.”
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