Concerns over primary school LGBTQ+ club

[holihell]

Just heard this might be a thing for my DC school next year. Surely it can wait for secondary stage?? Why are we offering primary children opportunities to sexually identify so young? I get true gay kids often have these feelings young and am all for talking openly but I do fear as well that by having a specific 'fun' club about it those who are a bit lost / or, dare I say it follow trends, may be steered down a path that's not necessarily for them.. am I being unreasonable to be concerned?

Two concerns:

1. Indoctrination into certain extreme mindsets over the trans issue.
2. Potential for this to become grooming club.

I knew I was pan by age 8. It may be a bit strange but, some kids really need it, say in year 6
Idk just my opinion

This.
Surely teachers aren't getting involved in chat about children's crushes etc on the opposite sex either?
I always went with the laugh and 'save that til you're older' if any primary school child I taught started talking about that kind of stuff.

But do you think adults should be facilitating these discussions?!

I think it's the idea of a club based around sexuality.. just seems so young for a school to be actively promoting sexual identities of any description.

Totally agree. Going through puberty and actually getting to sexual maturity are years apart. At 11 at the oldest this is totally inappropriate.

I have a gay dc and I wouldn't have been happy about this at primary school, I don't think they even realised they were gay at that age.

I'm just don't see the need for it, everything that's needed at this age can be covered in pshe

YANBU, I’d complain to the head and Ofsted. It’s political activism with a focus on sex, promotes sexist gender stereotypes, encourages tribalism and is being pushed into schools by adults with very dubious motives.

Honestly if my primary school was encouraging young children into a club to chat about sexual preferences, I’d be looking for a different school asap.

I would want to know what the Q and + mean. Have no issue with kids discussing gay and bi relationships. But they are not telling my child about the Q or +.

Yanbu

I completely agree that discussions about sexuality aren’t necessary at this age, but it’s not the only thing involved in LGBT, is it? There’s also love and I think it would be entirely appropriate to discuss companionship and love between same sex couples at primary age.

But isn’t it much more likely that it will focus on celebrating notable LGBT people and gently laying a ground work for acceptance of differences than giving them sex advice?

I don’t believe our kids should be exposed to sex at such a young age, but I have seen the trauma and destruction that comes from the shame historically associated with being gay, and I think it’s vital to make sure we don’t repeat those mistakes.

I would try to find out more about what the activities will be, and how things will be approached. Young primary kids won’t know what sex is, but will understand that some people have special friendships and special bonds with people. Older kids might understand that those special friendships can involve sex without needing or wanting specifics. So if it’s done in an appropriate and we’ll-structured way, I think it could be really positive for some.

I agree with a PP that in an ideal world, no one would come out or feel labelled, they’d just ‘be’ but until we live in a bigot free world, we might need to support the kids who are ‘different’ a little more.

This is just weird. No need for primary kids to be identifying as anything yet.

and I’m all for being open and honest about where babies come from… what the proper names for genitals are… explaining that families come in all shapes and sizes.

but at that age: no need for this type of club

The + is for anything other than LGBT so pansexual, asexual etc.

This!! Exactly!

If anything it makes it more acceptable for children, who are (or might) perhaps feeling attracted to their own gender, to feel comfortable.

I'm fully grown, in a heterosexual relationship, but I'm bisexual and I didn't meet anyone who wasn't openly straight until I was 16. I knew when I was 7.

What do you mean by tribalism? Not goading, I'm genuinely interested

Adult obsessions being imposed on little children is the name of the game these days.

You've a right to be concerned. The ideology is being pushed and more and more children are saying they are non gender or binary. How many of those are due to the constant pushing of the ideology on tv/the media/in school etc.

At secondary all the autistic children and the ones that wanted to be seen as different would say they were trans or non binary. It's a massive social contagion and the latest trend. It's quite pathetic really for adults to push this rubbish onto children. Leave them alone.

My child was approached to join the LGBTQ?+ group. He didn't ask, doesn't say he is mixed up, doesn't present as trans but they are trying to get children to join to then say it's popular and look at how many children are identifying in this what is probably really a tiny minority.

Every form now asks for a gender identity to be given. It's all bs.

You are male or female or in the tiniest, weeniest chance of undefined at birth (very very very rare) and then you wear whatever, clothing, shoes, make up etc and play whatever feminine or masculine or neutral role you want to live as but you are still only male or female. You cannot change sex.

The stupid children's books suggesting you can change sex are barking mad.

Yes this. ANY adult that pushes this bullshit should be checked out.

Q is queer and many LGB steer well clear of the out and out queer claiming folks
Some are questioning, some appear to change their gender depending on the day of the week .....

There are over 157 different genders you can select from, pick and mix of genders as used by the self entitled narcissists

Totally, all being covered up by being inclusive.

Some feel the desperate need to label everything these days. Frankly I don't care if you are 'pan' so what, why the need to tell everyone you are, you actually cares who you fancy or don't or whatever. It's all a bit look at me me me me me me

"Bisexuality, pansexuality, sexually fluid, queer and simply “not doing labels” – all are different ways people identify to indicate that they are not exclusively attracted to either men or women. The truth is, however, there’s confusion even among members of the LGBTQ community as to what these words mean, particularly when it comes to bisexuality. In fact, the bisexual community doesn’t even agree on what it means to be bisexual. The term pansexual was birthed out of the confusion, and to create a definitive and more inclusive label. This has led to in-fighting between members of the community, who are upset that their bisexual identity is being replaced by another label."

This quote from someone in the pan community shows even they have no idea what half of the labels they have created really are supposed to mean.

You don't turn someone one way or the other.

However, the social contagion around this area in secondary school is a real thing. The number of girls who are autistic identifying as trans or non binary because many are scared of what it means to be a female (who blames them). The number of people with anxiety and other mental health issues saying they are trans and being stuck in boxes and labelled rather than just being and growing. It seems everyone has to STATE what gender they are, just leave them alone for goodness sake.

I think a few things.

I've spoken to my 12 year old on this issue. She says it's not about sexuality really, it's about identity. She attended a club like this in primary school and they mostly just coloured in rainbow flags tbh.

It's going to be student led isn't it. The idea of having it anyway.

Complaining about it is going to give the kids an opportunity to do Daily Mail Sad face and talk about how reactionary their parents are, so I would avoid this unless you want to do it out of generosity as 11 yr olds love feeling hard done by ime.

If you think that your kid is being groomed at primary school, you should take them out of the school quite honestly, LGBTQI+ club or not.

I would email the head to ask which day the heterosexual club is running.

The homophobia on this thread is tangible.

The conflation between being a consenting gay adult and being a paedophile who wants to groom children is absolutely shocking.

Perhaps OP should find out what the club is for before creating a debate based upon people's fears and prejudices. If this group even exists.

I remember being at school and regularly having heterosexual relationships normalised and in many cases promoted. To be a good girl and to be pretty and pleasing to men. To listen to endless fairytales about being whisked away by a handsome prince etc.

I would guess LGBT+ club is for kids with same sex parents, siblings and those who have already been identified as requiring additional support. However I am sure the school could clarify with a simple politely worded email.

It's 2023.

Not really.

There should be zero sex clubs in schools.