Thousands of Jewish families will leave Britain if the government goes ahead with plans to force schools to promote LGBT lifestyles to children, an Orthodox campaigner has warned.
Lawyers acting for the Charedi activist and father, Shraga Stern, have written to British education minister Nick Gibb warning draft guidelines requiring schools to “actively promote” same-sex relationships and alternative lifestyles as “equally valid” would breach religious freedom provisions under European human rights law.
Mr Stern, whose seven children are aged between two and 12, argues that “in the Orthodox Jewish world it falls to parents or legal guardians, and not to schools” to teach children about sex and relationships.
“My father taught me about relationships at the appropriate time. I want to do the same. We do not want sex education taught in schools. We are tolerant of different lifestyles but we do not promote them,” the Sunday Times reported him as saying.
Department of Education advice, which demands “homosexuality, same-sex relationships and gender reassignment” be introduced in the classroom with the “active promotion of respect”, is described as “morally unacceptable and unlawful” by representatives of Mr Stern in their 19-page letter, which claims thousands of Orthodox Jews will have to leave Britain if the rules are put into effect.
“The Draft Advice goes beyond requiring toleration and in effect challenges the very essence of religious belief,” write lawyers for Mr Stern, who is the director of a London-based construction firm, according to Jewish News.
The letter explains: “We note in particular the phrase that different ways of life may be ‘equally valid’. This statement goes to the heart of the ethical worldview taught by a faith school.
“Belief in God and in a religious way of life distinguishes between action that is morally good and action that is sin.”
Chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman rejected complaints over the draft guidelines, claiming the promotion of LGBT lifestyles in the classroom was required by the 2010 Equality Act and that faith schools could not be exempt.
“We know a gay child might be born into any town, any family, any time,” she said, adding that the guidance was “about making sure every child has the chance to grow up with the right level of information [and] … access to the kinds of conversation or support they might want.”
Breitbart London previously reported how Ofsted, the British schools watchdog led by Ms Spielman, failed a private Jewish girls’ school, claiming its pupils — aged eight and under — were being denied “a full understanding of fundamental British values” as a result of the north London institution’s failure to teach about homosexuality and gender reassignment.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.