Lesbian and gay Christians have called for the scrapping of the infamous Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988, which forbids the promotion or teaching of homosexuality by local authorities.
In view of the debate in the House of Lords on 7th February LGCM wishes to state:
1. Responsible sex education should respect the diversity of the young people themselves by acknowledging the diversity of human behaviour, and should not promote any one particular culture or lifestyle. It should impart knowledge and enable young people to mature and to make responsible choices, including the confidence to say no when needed. In the absence of sex education by trained teachers there is a vacuum all too easily filled by inaccurate information from other children and even from pornographic literature. Withholding information from children does not protect them, it leaves them open to learn in more unsavoury ways.
2. Bullying of suspected homosexuals in schools is very common and has even led to suicides. This cannot be countered unless all the pupils know that homosexuality is acceptable to the school authorities. This needs to be explicitly stated in every school's policy on behaviour and that the school is a guaranteed 'safe place' in respect to sexuality and bullying.
3. Due to ignorance and disapproval of homosexuality in some parts of society, homosexual people may feel coerced into heterosexual relationships and marriage with disastrous results for the people involved; these include the gay or lesbian persons themselves, their unwitting spouses and any children. If we are to promote responsible marriage, young people need to be able to make informed choices before they consider marriage.
4. The repeal of laws against homosexuality has not led to any increase in the proportion of homosexuality. There is evidence that the proportion is similar in all societies over place and time, though it is more covert where society is more hostile.
5. Teaching about homosexuality should therefore be an essential part of sex education, together with the psychology and morality of personal relationships and information on marriage, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and divorce. These are all aspects of the same topic which interact and need to be considered together, but this is limited by the constraint of Section 28. Of course there are many sensitivities in this matter but teachers need to be supported and enabled by the law.
LGCM's General Secretary, Rev Richard Kirker, said today "The goal is a society characterised by freedom from fear, good interpersonal relationships, happy family units, and low rates of unwanted pregnancies and sexual diseases. The current indices of these in the United Kingdom are poor relative to other Western European countries which have a more open and informed attitude to sexuality and less restrictive laws. Section 28 does nothing to help overcome these problems and should be removed from the statute book as soon as possible." ENDS
(23 January 2000)
Note: LGCM is affiliated to the Sex Education Forum
Further information
Rev Richard Kirker 0171 739 1249