The Christian Institute (CI) and its patron, Lady Young, have launched a campaign to give Christians the right to make life even more difficult for gay and lesbian schoolchildren.
The CI wants the General Teaching Council – the professional body overseeing teachers – to drop a clause in its new code of practice that requires teachers to “Fully respect differences of gender, marital status, religion, colour, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability. Teacher professionalism involves challenging prejudice and stereotypes to ensure equality of opportunity.” The CI claims that this clause will restrict the right of Christian teachers to disapprove of homosexuals.
In a mail-out to its members, the Christian Institute says: “The world’s six main religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism) all view homosexual practice as wrong. Sexual orientation is a highly contentious moral issue. In effect the General Teaching Council has decided to promote the view that homosexual practice is right and to put pressure on teachers to agree with them.”
Terry Sanderson, a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association said: “The Christian Institute have pulled some pretty unpleasant stunts, but this one is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. To argue that gay and lesbian schoolchildren – probably the most vulnerable of all pupils – should be left unprotected from bigoted teachers is nothing short of cruel. The fact that some teachers hide their prejudice behind a cloak of religiosity is no excuse. Enough research has now been done into the experience of gay children in schools to know that some of them already live lives of unbearable stress and are victims of constant bullying. Now these Christians want to add to their misery by clearing the way for teachers to add to the pressure on these kids.
“The General Teaching Council must resist the pressure from the Christian Institute and keep this clause intact. And Lady Young should be ashamed of herself for associating with such a pernicious and bullying initiative.”