The parents’ uprising against the “No Outsiders” LGBT curriculum at Parkfield Community School in Saltley, inner-city Birmingham has spread to Anderton Park Primary School in Moseley, a Birmingham suburb after a 6-year-old boy from Year 2 told his parents he was forced to dress as a girl.
Muslim parents protesting outside the school yesterday and today from 3.15 to 3.45pm demanded the withdrawal of the “No Outsiders” programme and the resignation of headteacher Mrs Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson.
Shouting slogans like “Our Children our Choice,” “Let Kids be Kids” and “Hewitt-Clarkson step down,” parents and children of all ages held up posters saying “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” and “Education not Indoctrination.”
Parents say the school has been teaching the pro-LGBT syllabus since November 2018 without any consultation. They insist their children are too young to be taught gay, lesbian, and transgender issues and there is no statutory requirement for the school to be teaching such subjects.
Parents became aware of LGBT textbooks being read to their children after the Parkfield Community School protests began in January 2019. There were reports that boys were being asked to dress as girls and children were being taught a story of a prince marrying another prince, leading parents to wonder if the same material was also being taught at Anderton, Mrs Shaida Rashid, mother of an 8-year-old in Year 3, told Rebel Priest.
Parents met after a 6-year-old boy went home in tears because he had been asked to dress as a girl the next day to participate in a play. “There are a few other books we found in the school that are ‘gay stories’ and they were also getting taught that it’s okay to have two mummies and two daddies,” another parent who wished to remain unidentified said.
Meanwhile, a mother contacted other parents after her 4-year-old daughter who came home from nursery and started playing with her doll said to her: “Mummy, can you come and be the second mummy.” The mother says she was angry and asked, “What do you mean? Mummy needs daddy, mummy doesn’t need another mummy.” The child responded, “No Mummy, it’s okay. We are allowed to have two mummies and you need to be the second mummy.”
The parents then issued a petition and collected over 200 signatures. They told to the Chair of Governors that the headteacher wasn’t taking their complaints on board. There have been two meetings at a local mosque and are a third meeting will soon be held, parents said.
Mrs Rashid says that Mr Richard Harris, a teacher, confirmed that the story “King and King” had been taught since last term. The story is about a prince who spurns a number of princesses and falls in love with another prince and the two get married. “I apologise if this story has made you angry, but I was told by the headteacher to teach the children this story,” Mr Harris reportedly told parents.
However, headteacher Hewitt-Clarkson denied the allegations in a letter dated 18 March 2019, insisting, “We do not teach children about sex, we never have and never will in future.” Parents said that this statement itself was problematic as the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) would make pansexual education compulsory from September 2020.
“We do not have an LGBT programme or promote an LGBT ethos,” she stated. Nevertheless, she went on to explain that “we do promote understanding of all aspects of equality and talk to children about our society and the community we live in,” which, according to parents, is code for the “No Outsiders” lessons.
Hewitt-Clarkson also wrote that she and Mr Harris had a “great meeting with Mr Abdul Latif, an Imam from Evelyn Road Mosque about the issues that some people have currently.”
However, Mr Latif said he did not concur with Hewitt-Clarkson. “I am now seeing this letter sent to me via Whatsapp with my name on it which I gave no permission for, detailing and implying my agreement to what the school is doing overall—a matter of which I am obviously uninformed let alone agree with,” he wrote.
Mr Shakeel Afsar from Justice for our Children said that the parents have “tried their best to hold collective consultations with headteacher who refused to hold the meeting on the grounds of law and order situation” (sic). When parents have spoken individually to Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson she has repeatedly reassured them that “No Outsiders” was not being taught, they claim.
Sources told Rebel Priest that Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson called the police yesterday even though the demonstrators were protesting peacefully. Two police cars arrived just as the protests were ending and police said they would allow the protests to go ahead.
Many of the parents say their have written letters to the headteacher reminding her of the Human Rights Act 1998 which affirms that “The State must respect the rights of parents religious and philosophical convictions in respect of education and teaching.”
Parents say they intend to protest daily until “No Outsiders” is withdrawn or collective consultations are held with parents or Hewitt-Clarkson is removed as headteacher from the school. Sources say that Sikh and Romanian Christian parents are also supporting the protests.
Rebel Priest contacted the school by phone and email and was told the headteacher would call back. So far, there has been no response from the school. “There has been concerning behaviour from a few parents over the last few days and it must change,” reads a notice from the school’s newsletter dated 28 February 2019.
Rebel Priest has also contacted the Lambeth Palace for comment asking if Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, would support the parents after Welby spoke at an interfaith gathering stating: “For British Muslims who are feeling under threat, we are with you….We will work with Bishops in the Church of England to see how we can be more effective in visible signs of togetherness.”
Earlier, David Urquhart refused to support Muslim parents who approached him stating that l stated that the diocese expected church schools “to address the requirements of the Equalities Act, recognising that it is a requirement of the law to prepare our children to live in modern day Britain.”
The Muslims are right. But where are the Christians? Hiding
If they are looking to Brother Justin for inspiration, Christian clarity, and courage they are going to have a long wait.
They are right, on this subject, and you are right.
The legislative march promoting the LGBTQXYZ is on in full force. I came from an event where Christians went to our state house to voice our opposition to a bevy of related (and interconnected) bills… Which was fine… But I only recognized TWO other ministers from ANY churches in my region. A poor turnout would have been a dozen.
The fix is in in my state, but I cannot accept that Christ would be satisfied with the Church sitting on our hands. One bill to force all school districts to accept a sexual education curriculum written by Planned Parenthood for kids shockingly young, the material shockingly graphic (I learned something in it I was better off not knowing). Another bill to prohibit and punish ANY kind of counseling that is not pro-LGBTQXYZ. Another bill to REMOVE a child from a family that does not PARTICIPATE in a transgender transition.
Bland platitudes of “Jesus loves you and so do I” just are not a sufficient response. If the people do not hear the truth from us, all of it, they will never hear it, and never know the need for Christ. The Church MUST oppose these legislative crimes.
In a civilized world, people advocating the more radical positions on “sex education” would be under investigation for sexually exploiting children, and for what the English like to call “grooming”- which is to say, preparing young people to see statutory rape as “normal”. Apparently so prevalent in some parts of English society among the elite and educated that they had to make up a polite word for the particular perversion.
Grooming is now legal in schools.
A year or so ago I emailed Lambeth Palace on this issue and asked why they were taking educational policy advice from Stonewall. I can’t provide weblinks(!) but it is archived somewhere under Stonewall advises CofE…
Good for the Muslims. Although I’ve read elsewhere that some Christian groups are with them, if the mainstream (at least nominally) CoE won’t stand with them, then the UK deserves to go Islamic.
From what I know, there are a handful of Christian individuals standing with them and fighting the RSE imposition. Among them are Bishop Gavin Ashenden, Dr Jules Gomes, Dr Lisa Nolland, Rev Chris Sugden and David Kurten, a member of the London Assembly. Otherwise, not a single major or minor Christian denomination including the most conservative Grace Baptist Churches, Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), Evangelical Alliance, Affinity or any other church has woken up to the seriousness of what is happening. It is a desperate time black in old Blighty. Don’t even expect the CofE to support the fight against the sexualisation of our kids; they are doing precisely the opposite and supporting the government and the Department of Education!!!
Where O where,are those stout yeomen of England??
Probably joined a sewing circle somewhere..