Totally shocked!!! Need help please!

[danceswithdeath]

Okay so. My son goes to a private school; they do pray etc but we are not religious at home. There are obviously other parents who do not follow a religion too.

I am on a group WhatsApp with the fellow parents of my sons class (just gone into year three). Someone has just put a link for us to sign, and it is regarding not teaching our children about LGBTQ in class....

Now, I get it. Everyone has their own personal opinions. But I find this really shocking!! No one has replied expect myself, where I have asked if it was a mistake or not. They said no and to read it.

Well I really want to put something, but I'm not sure if I should... it's pissed me right off though!! I am so open with my son! He knows about a lot.

Has anyone any advice on what I could say that is calm and to the point?

I am very open minded but my 6 year old came home the other day and told me that she could have an operation and change in to a boy if she wanted to. I am not ok with that. What people choose to tell children and when is up to parents and not schools. I grew up with no knowledge of these things and no discussions of anti racism but what I also grew up with is a general acceptance of all people and that for me is where the focus should be. There is not need in my opinion to go in to details if general acceptance is taught.

@joyfullittlehippo
I’m in the US. We were stationed in Louisiana. It was a US state school.

Why are people so up in arms about this? People are acting like kids are being told horror stories in class.

Love is love, and that is all that matters.

@joyfullittlehippo

“We don’t live in a dictatorship - parents still have ultimate control over their child’s education. Any parent has the option to remove their child from school if they disagree with the school’s philosophy or policies.”

But correct me if I’m wrong, do not all U.K. state schools have the same curriculum for Sex Ed classes? And so, even if you changed schools, you would end up with the same lesson material. And it says right here in the petition that the real issue is that you won’t have control:

“From 2020 in the UK, parents will no longer have the right to remove their children from Relation & Sex Education classes....”

Now these people object to the LGBTQ aspects, but what other aspects might there be which could trouble you? And do you trust the U.K. government enough to give up your right to pull your kid from an RSE class?

@joyfullittlehippo
My comments are relevant. You guys don’t seem to be aware that a parental right is being taken away. I’d be up in arms if the US Gov were telling me I had no right to pull my kid from a class.

You know that RSE is just the start? If they take away your right for one class that’s a precedent which can be extended to all classes, all lessons, to anything they feel like teaching your kids.

And on top of that, mercifully, there is Grace, which helps us to be forgiven and move on when we get things wrong and live outside if God's way
That's convenient, isn't it?

Doctor, you're building a straw man.

@joyfullittlehippo
“Can you give an example of something other than LGBT content you’re worried will be forced on children in a UK state school?”

So, are you saying because you can’t think of anything to worry about, you are absolutely fine living in a country that will dictate to you what your kids will be taught in a state school for centuries to come?

Did you just say that you don’t live in a dictatorship and that parents can choose to take their kids out of a school if they don’t agree with philosophies or policies....well this undermines that reality immensely.

It's a religious school so unfortunately you will get this. I would politely decline and put a message out saying that you don't think children being given age appropriate PHSE is an issue, and that includes that LGBT people and families do exist. End of.
I'm gay and we have kids and personally I think this 'protecting' kids is both bigoted and short-sighted. It's not okay to tell kids who have a mum and dad versus 2 mums or 2 dads that their family is the right one or the 'normal' one or to say that being heterosexual is the best or better way to in God's eyes.

They need to broach the subject at school gently for a young age ... by the time they are teens they could feel totally relaxed if they feel they are gay and therefore hopefully not suicidal by this time !
Our nephew is gay and his parents are acting weird about it ... I am not impressed at all !!
Some households are bigoted and it’s not good

@itseasybeingcheesy Jesus didn’t say anything about same sex relationships. He spoke negatively about divorce, but most (even evangelical) Christians ignore the divorce stuff, often because they or their friends have been divorced, but treat LGB people as those their lives are inherently sinful and need to be repented of.

I think same sex couples should be taught exactly the same as they've always taught about hetero couples. It shouldn't be up for debate.

I don't think that young children, with impressionable minds should be taught about transgender trends and tell them they don't have to be a boy/girl if they don't feel that way. It's leading to a whole lot of issues.

Good response OP and well done for having the guts to send it, particularly when it turns out a fair few parents agree with it but we’re too chicken to speak up and messaged you privately instead.

I think that the fact that the parent who circulated the petition had already taken her son out of the school when she did so speaks volumes- she knew full well she was using a forum she no longer had a right to be on, but as an evangelical Christian she could not stop herself using every possible avenue to get her message out there.

On a separate note, at least it was only a petition about being able to withdraw your kid and not one about stopping schools doing the lessons altogether. Much as I agree fully with you as to the education I would like my child to have, I do also respect the right of other parents to choose what their children are taught. So in itself the petition is a non-event, her error was in implicitly suggesting that other parents SHOULD agree with it, rather than simply saying “sign if you share this view”.

LGB should be taught in a very dull nothing special to see here we are all just getting on with our lives, tolerance blah blah. what women speak out says. The T not ! esp if it includes nonsense such as this www.spectator.co.uk/2018/10/how-parents-are-being-shut-out-of-the-transgender-debate/
I mean like pink and big dresses? your a girl, what regressive shite is that!

What I object to is the state deciding which values I can teach my children. They have no business forcibly telling my children that certain ways of life are just as acceptable as others

This is totally fine. Take them out. Take them out if the bits you don't want them in.

I don't see anything wrong with having the opinion that homosexuality is detrimental to society

Detrimental to society? How precisely?

They can do their thing and I can disapprove yes, you can. You are perfectly entitled to disapprove. But why? How does it directly affect you?

I think there is a valid secular argument against homosexuality, and I've been brought up with strong family values, which I want to pass on to my children

Again, please elaborate on this valid, secular argument. Are you saying that homosexuals don't have strong family values? Are you saying that because they're attracted to someone of the same sex they lack the capacity to provide a loving and stable household, with strong core values? Because that is the implication in your words there.

I couldn’t care less about my primary school child being taught about homosexuality. I care a great deal about groups such as Stonewall and Mermaids coming in and brainwashing him. Im hugely pissed pff that I might not be able to stop that happening.

@InThisMultiverse

I agree that some Christians ignore teaching on divorce, which in my opinion is not the correct thing to do. When divorce does happen it's very sad and needs to be treat with compassion.

Regarding same sex relationships - it's addressed in the gospels when Jesus discusses marriage as between one woman and one man. Therefore it's any sexual behaviour outside of a marriage that is sinful, not just homosexuality itself.

I say this as someone who had sex outside of marriage before I became a Christian. In my teaching of the bible it is sex outside marriage, between any sexes, that is sinful. Not the "life" of a gay person. The trouble is that sexuality has become so intrinsically woven into people's identities (again not something I would consider healthy) that a person perceives someone disagreeing with their sexual behaviour as hating their whole life and personhood. Which is not the case usually.

And I must say that when anyone, religious or not, expresses hatred towards a person because of their sexual orientation it is completely unacceptable. If someone feels that way about a person because they cannot control their opinions it shows that they have problems with anger or other troubles and shouldn't be accepted. I am not advocating that anyone should show hatred to people in the LGBT community. Hate gets us nowhere.

Trans is not neutral; it is the sterilising, medication and mutilation of children. It also removes the safeguards and boundaries that keep children safe. Trans ideologues tell school that it is ok to keep secrets if the child might be trans, that suddenly it is ok for dormitories to be mix sex and parents must not be told, that a child’s distress must not be explored, that if they are unhappy stripping off in front of the opposite sex then they are bigots. I don’t want my child, or any children, to have any part of this

But I do not support the proposed content for T - which tells young kids that you can be born in the wrong body and that you can change biological sex. This is not only untrue but physically and mentally harmful. You can be uncomfortable with gender stereotypes - but the answer to that is to challenge the stereotype, rather than to move yourself from one neat little category into the other.

Hear, hear!

And how can anyone be "born in the wrong body". It's your body. You're born in it. How can that be wrong? You might like things that most others of your sex don't, but so why. I like curly hair - mine is straight. Does that mean I was born with the wrong head? (Don't answer that question )

I've an 8 year old DC.
I have gay friends, so knowing that a man can marry a man, and a woman can marry a woman has already been discussed.
I have straight friends too, so that one is covered.
I have trans acquaintances. I have mentioned to DC that while men can marry other men, etc., sometimes people still don't feel right; they may feel, as they grow up that they have the wrong body. Whilst you can't 100% become what you are not, it is possible, as an adult, to have operations to change things. However, it takes a lot of time, and a lot of thought, and will BW difficult and painful.
I have a friend who has a late teen who is considering their surgical options:born female, lives as male & is attracted to women. As yet, no major decisions have been made.

I've been clear that this is something that some people might do, as adults. I've not said it is easy or simple.