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LGBTQ+ EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE DOOR
By Jason Reid
Seeing people protest against LGBTQ+ education in schools breaks my heart. There is no part of me that understands their logic.
When I see these protesters what I see is people saying that I and millions of other LGBTQ+ people should not exist, or, at the very least, we can exist but in no way should we be acknowledged. PinkNews reported on a recent protest that took place outside Manorfield Primary School in Tower Hamlets, London on Monday, October 19. Approximately 150 people gathered demanding that the head teacher, Paul Jackson, resign over the mandatory teaching of relationships and sex education (RSE) lessons.
They held placards reading: “Don’t Confuse Children”, “We Do Not Consent”, “Too Much, Too Soon” and “Education, Not Sexualisation”. A spokesperson for the primary school told MyLondon: “We are aware of this morning’s demonstration outside of our school and have worked closely with appropriate authorities to ensure the safety of all children, staff and parents. The health, safety and wellbeing of our pupils is our top priority, and we work hard as a school to ensure that our full curriculum supports this. “Our school also values open and constructive dialogue between the school and the community it serves, especially parents, which is why we have offered a number of consultative activities and opportunities for parents to engage with the RSE policy.”
First things first, freedom to protest is something that is incredibly important in any functioning democracy. And although ours is rife with corruption and sleaze, it’s still functioning… albeit with a severe limp. Conversely, a right to reply is equally as important and valuable. If parents are not comfortable with their children learning about LGBTQ+ relationships in schools, and are willing to jeopardise their mental health and future wellbeing in order to appease an invisible man in the sky, then they should move them to a school that offers regressive teaching. But remembering that we must all live with the consequences of our actions. As a country, the UK has let down young LGBTQ+ people for long enough. It’s not just time, we are long overdue offering them the relationship education that will hopefully provide the understanding about their sexuality – in order to set them up for adult life. The education that was robbed from previous generations of LGBTQ+ people.
No distractions. No noise. Get on with it. Listen to the voices of LGBTQ+ people on this. Simply, it’s about improving the lives of LGBTQ+ people – investing in their future. You wouldn’t buy something from IKEA and then throw away the instructions. You’d be left with a pile of wood that would have to be assembled poorly and without care. In the same way, why should we expect LGBTQ+ people to just ‘assemble’ themselves in a world that is fundamentally focused on heteronormativity as the ‘norm’. Which, of course, is utter shite – to say that something is normal only infers that the opposite is abnormal, but we are where we are. I suspect it’s gonna take many more years to demolish that myth completely. Personally, I also think we need to go further and introduce LGBTQ+ sex education across the board. Teach about safe sex. Teach about the AIDS crisis. Teach about PrEP. Teach about sexual desires, decision-making and consent. Perhaps only to those who are LGBTQ+ – and most become aware as soon as they hit puberty, or soon after. I remember being 13 and fancying the arse off fellas. I also remember constantly questioning those emotions because there was nothing out there that told me they were normal and healthy. See where I’m going with this? I mean, I was forced to learn about abortion at my Catholic school – that really came in handy.
Look, I’m not dismissing the parents here. Of course parents worry about their children, that’s a natural state of affairs – my mum still frets about me constantly and I’m 40 years old – but sadly some parents are putting themselves and their own dogmatic views before their children and dressing it up as concern. Granted, this is a very small percentage of people who are protesting, but we’ve seen how the media in this country can take something small-scale and amplify its inflammatory rhetoric, only adding fuel to the fire. So it’s important to keep an eye on these things. I know I bang on about this subject a lot, and I will continue to do so because it’s vitally important. LGBTQ+ education is the key to unlocking the door. Equality in education should be a given, not something that is seen as protest-worthy. To those parents who object, I say please put your energy into something that is more constructive – like understanding young people and how best to support them as they find their place in the world. Living their best and authentic life is the only way young LGBTQ+ people will find some semblance of happiness in this absolutely batshit world, and anything that aids that should be applauded.
