A High Court judge has ruled that Muslim protestors will be permanently banned from protesting LGBT relationship lessons outside a school in Birmingham, England.
Today a High Court judge, Mr Justice Warby, upheld the decision in June of this year to create an exclusion zone around the Anderton Park Primary School, making the ban of anti-LGBT protests, by mostly Muslim parents, permanent in the area.
The three main protestors: Amir Ahmed, Shakeel Afsar and his sister Rosina Afsar fought the injunction in court claiming that the protests should be protected as freedom of speech. The Muslim parents also objected to the school not consulting with them over the introduction of LGBT lessons, reports the Birmingham Mail.
A Christian organiser, John Allman, joined the other defendants in condemning the breach of freedom of speech.
The judge in the case said that the protestors had ‘grossly misrepresented’ the content of the LGBT relationship lessons causing harm to the children, teachers and local residents.
The headteacher of the Anderton Park Primary School, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, described the protestors as ‘toxic and nasty’ and said that there were ample opportunities to discuss concerns about the curriculum with the school.
She said that in a meeting she had with Mr Afsar, he slammed his hand on her desk and demanded that she remove the LGBT lessons from the school.
“It was volatile, it was aggressive. I had never had a meeting like that before in 26 years of teaching. He set up a WhatsApp group that afternoon … trying to whip up a frenzy”, she told the court.
Earlier this year, another school in the area was also targeted by Muslim protestors after the introduction of a programme called ‘No Outsiders’ which taught students about LGBT issues alongside its existing sexual education courses.
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