Another government cave-in to evil Catholics

The gay Humanist educational charity the Pink Triangle Trust – owner of this blog – has reacted angrily to the news that the UK government has caved in to religious pressure, especially from Roman Catholic sources, concerning sex and relationships education.

An amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill tabled by the Secretary of State Ed Balls would permit state-funded “faith schools” to teach PSHE (personal, social and health education), which includes sex and relationships education (SRE), “in a way that reflects the school’s religious character”.

PTT secretary George Broadhead said, “It is outrageous that the government is planning to deny young people the right to accurate, balanced PSHE and sex and relationships education, and allow state-funded schools to teach the subject from a religious viewpoint. By taking this position, it is implicitly condoning homophobia in schools and undermining attempts to tackle homophobic bullying. This looks like another Section 28.”

Section 28 was part of the Local Government Act of 1988, which outlawed the so-called “promotion” of homosexuality by local authorities in the UK. It led to much self-censorship by schools. No one was ever prosecuted under the Act, introduced by the Tories and subsequently scrapped by the current Labour administration in 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in the rest of the UK.

The exemptions we’re talking about here could allow Catholic teachers to tell gay kids that their sexuality is intrinsically evil. And that’s not much fun when you’re coming to terms with your sexuality.

Of course, it allows them to tell all the other kids, too, that the gay kids in their class have a sexuality that’s intrinsically evil. That’s not much fun, either – especially if there are bullies about.

The Catholic hierarchy stink to high heaven with their own intrinsic evil and their utter hypocrisy, and this just another nail in the coffin of human dignity and equality, and another way of appeasing a constituency of voters – especially only months before Ratzinger visits these shores in his white frock and dainty shoes (largely at our expense), having himself criticised the Equality Bill for its equality measures – leading to a cowardly climbdown on the part of the “equalities” minister Harriet Harman.