'Promote Gay Relationships as Positive in School,' Teachers Say

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The government should be forced to portray gay relationships in a positive light

The government should be forced to portray gay relationships in a positive light, teachers say, causing outrage amongst influential Christian charities.

The call on schools including a "positive portrayal" on same-sex relationships emerged as part of a motion on a debate for a "manifesto for a new government on LGBT rights in schools, which was being debated at the NUT union's in Harrogate.

The motion, which was passed, calls on teachers to put pressure on the government to "make it compulsory that all schools' sex education policies include a positive portrayal of same sex relationships".

Campaigners have been calling on wide-range mandatory sexual relationship in every school. Under current rules, local council-run secondary schools only to provide basic sex education, including subjects such as Sexual Transmitted Diseases. There is no emphasis on a particular gender.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT union, said: “The NUT calls for all parties standing in the 2015 General Election to show their commitment to tackling the discrimination faced by both LGBT students and teachers in schools by following the ten point action plan outlined in the Motion. This includes making it compulsory for all schools’ sex education policies to include a positive portrayal of same sex relationships, promoting LGBT History Month in all schools, and encouraging schools to develop a curriculum that is inclusive of LGBT issues.

“We need education policy that develops curriculum for children and young people that supports the democratic values of a diverse Britain – including LGBT equality. » | Javier Espinoza, Education Editor | Sunday, April 05, 2015

NUT goes NUTs and Fails to Find Its NUTs Over the Koran!
Image courtesy of Google Images
DAILY EXPRESS: STATE schools should be forced to open their doors to Islamic preachers teaching the Koran, the largest classroom union demanded yesterday.

The National Union of Teachers’ conference also said existing religious schools – almost all of them Christian – should have to admit pupils from other faiths.



The union’s general secretary Steve Sinnott said that allowing Muslim imams to preach in schools would be a way to reunite divided communities.



But the proposals prompted immediate outrage. Conservative Party backbencher Mark Pritchard said: “This is just further appeasement for Muslim militants.



“We should just follow the existing laws on religious education, which state that it should be of a predominantly Christian character. All this will do is further divide many communities that are already split on religious lines.”


Speaking as delegates met at the hard-Left-dominated union’s annual conference, Mr Sinnott admitted that his plan would amount to religious indoctrination inside taxpayer-backed schools rather than simple teaching of what different religions believe.



He said: “This is more than simple religious education, it’s religious instruction.”



The proposals include providing private Muslim prayer facilities in schools. But Mr Sinnott stressed that no pupils would be forced to have any religious instruction.



The union, however, also called for all daily religious assemblies, which by law are supposed to have a Christian character, to be abandoned. Fury Over Plan to Teach Koran in Schools >>> By Gabriel Milland

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Schools Could Offer Koran Classes
BBC: Head teachers should allow imams, rabbis and priests to offer religious instruction to pupils in all state schools, teachers' leaders have said.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said the move would be a way to reunite divided communities.

The NUT said parents had a right to have specific schooling in their own faith, if that was what they wanted.

But having children taught at different faith-based schools had led to community breakdown in some areas.

Offering pupils some instruction in their own faith could reduce the demand for faith schools, said NUT General Secretary Steve Sinnott. Schools Could Offer Koran Classes >>> By Hannah Goff

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)