The Anderton Primary School Protests, Homophobia and Liberal Values

“Let kids be kids” reads one placard held outside Anderton Primary School in Birmingham. “Say NO to undermining parental rights and authority” reads another. And a third, “We have a say in what they learn”, to which I reply, ‘no, you do not’, if your notion of a curriculum is one that patently repudiates western liberal and secular values. Frequent readers will know that I will advocate profusely for your right to protest and express your views without legal repercussion (ironically, principles central to a liberal and secular society), but I argue fiercely that teachers at Anderton Primary should reject the cries of the regressive and bigoted mob shouting outside their gates.

Though it’s unwise to ignore that same-sex couples are still subjected to homophobic abuse and discrimination by some, overwhelmingly the people of Old Blighty have come a long way towards tolerance, liberalism and acceptance for what is innate to humanity. To illustrate, at the turn of the century only thirty-four per cent of Brits believed that same-sex partnerships were “not wrong at all”, sixteen years later it was sixty-four percent. If that’s not significant progress, I don’t know what is.

And, without getting into a clearly redundant defence of why homosexuality is a normal and healthy sexual-orientation, same-sex relationships and homosexuality are an inseparable, clearly visible and widely accepted part of British life today. Then, it follows, that if the primary purpose of education is to prepare individuals for life in wider society, the content of the curriculum should teach about all kinds of relationships and sexualities that exist in that society. It’s integral to adequate preparation for life. To add, the benefit bestowed upon children who hold these sexual-orientations, primarily in allowing for their recognition that they are normal, is necessary for maximising self-acceptance and positive mental wellbeing. As such, anyone proclaiming that these children are ‘too young’ to learn about homosexuality, as Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham Hall Green, and numerous protestors, have, I say poppycock! These children are not being taught about sex, they are being taught about the existence and acceptance of diverging, yet common, sexualities. This is patently not the same thing. It’s in these integral years, from ages 3-11, when children should be socialised into tolerant and liberal values, regardless of whether they pertain to religious tolerance, tolerance of diverging sexualities, or tolerance of ones right to speak freely.

And regarding the claims of some protestors that this is not about the ‘content’, and instead just the age at which they are being taught about relationships generally, we can render such arguments absurd and fallacious. Let’s face it, they’re not this disgruntled because their children are being taught about relationships generally at such a young age, because few people would get this riled-up enough to unite and protest around such a non-issue. They’re annoyed because their children are being taught about homosexual relationships. The content is the issue. The ‘age’ justification is being employed as a façade to their bigotry. However, many are less implicit in their opposition to the teaching about homosexuality (one placard reads “It’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”). (And perhaps they should be praised for their directness?) These people are backwards, regressive and out-of-touch with our liberal values, and though they can scream and shout, we should kill their repugnant proclamations with the best means at our disposal, by refusing the affordance of any compromise and carrying on as we were.

The teachers at Anderton Primary School must hold their ground. (It’s an outright shame that we are having to talk about implementing exclusion zones to protect children from this disgusting mob, but necessary nonetheless.) Rollout of this curriculum should extend to all schools across the country (including faith schools), and if the teachers and school leaders can hold their ground for long enough, hopefully in a few generations time any remnants of homophobic bigotry will have been driven out of this country for good.