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.

Topics: education, children, student, Islam, culture, England, homosexuality, homophobia