Schools told all lessons for five-year-olds should include gay and trans themes The Sunday Times 01.12.19

The original article is here.

Children as young as five should be taught about lesbian, gay and transgender issues in every subject, according to guidance issued to primary schools.

The voluntary guidance, from the campaign group Stonewall, has been launched to coincide with new relationships and sex education (RSE) lessons that will come into effect next September. Although parents will be allowed to remove their children from lessons focusing on sex, the relationships content is compulsory.

In design and technology lessons, teachers should use the rainbow flag to help 5 to 7-year-olds understand the meaning of colours, according to Stonewall, which says teaching about LGBT families and people must be “embedded” across school timetables. Another suggestion is that same-sex couples be used to teach children to count in maths lessons, with possible questions including, “How many biscuits are left at Fatima and Shanika’s wedding?”

Lesson plans in English could be built around a book, And Tango Makes Three, in which two male penguins hatch an egg in a zoo. The plans are accompanied by images of classroom displays about the penguin family.

For pupils aged seven and eight, a design and technology lesson plan suggests studying an Aids memorial quilt.

In computing, pupils could design a dress for Bailey, a boy who dreams of being a girl and is the main character in a picture book called 10,000 Dresses.

In religious education lessons, pupils should be taught about naming ceremonies for people who change gender, according to the guidance, which has been sponsored by the publisher Pearson and the Government Equalities Office (GEO) from a £1m grant awarded to LGBT organisations.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, described Stonewall’s campaign for “acceptance without exception” as disguising a “manipulative agenda aimed brazenly at our youngest and most impressionable”.

She said: “The innocence of our children is being robbed by introducing them to concepts they cannot be expected to understand and from which they should be protected. This curriculum is deeply subversive. It should be scrapped.”

Tanya Carter, from the Safe Schools Alliance, a group of concerned parents, grandparents, teachers and others, said: “We are in favour of teaching about same-sex families, but we are concerned that the aim of challenging homophobia is being used to sneak gender ideology into the curriculum. It is being taught as fact that children can be born in the wrong body and are able to change sex, neither of which is true.”

Yesterday the Church of England published a prayer for parents with children at Church of England schools to read before consultations with head teachers over the new RSE lessons. Anticipating clashes between parents and schools, the prayer includes a plea for words to “heal, not hurt”.

Stonewall said: “Our new guide, Creating an LGBT-Inclusive Primary Curriculum, is a free voluntary resource for primary school teachers who want to make their classrooms inclusive and accepting of all young people.”