Education Secretary: ‘I Will Advance the LGBT Agenda’
British Education Secretary Justine Greening has said she will continue to champion the LGBT agenda during her time in office.
In an article marking Pride in London—an annual event celebrating homosexuality and transsexualism—she described what she will do to ‘fly the flag’ for the LGBT community.
Last year, Greening announced that she had entered into a same-sex relationship.
Relationships education
In her article, carried by The Telegraph, the Education Secretary celebrated the government’s commitment to primary-level Relationships Education and secondary-level Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) earlier this year.
The Christian Institute has highlighted concerns that compulsory Relationships Education could expose young children to teaching on homosexuality, transsexualism and same-sex marriage.
The government says that RSE will involve teaching on ‘sexuality’ and ministers have suggested that the current right for parents to withdraw their children from sex education could be restricted.
LGBT initiatives
Greening went on to describe her desire to tackle what she called “homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying” in schools.
She said that the government has allocated 3 million pounds for pro-LGBT initiatives.
And she restated her commitment to reviewing the Gender Recognition Act, to make it easy for transsexual people to “change official records and documents like passports” to match their “gender identity.”
At the end of last month, leading educationalist Joanna Williams said: “We are increasingly reminded that schools are struggling financially. Yet the time, effort and money that goes into producing and monitoring Transgender Policies is out of all proportion to the tiny number of trans children currently in British schools.”
Government Plans
The government’s plans for Relationships Education were introduced through an amendment to the Children and Social Work Bill and give the Education Secretary the power to “make Relationships Education and RSE statutory through regulations”.
Over the next few months, ministers will consult on the proposals with a “wide range of interests and expertise.”
Homosexual lobby group Stonewall has already said it will be pressing the Government to ensure LGBT issues are “reflected in updated guidance for schools.” {eoa}
