Independent Faith Schools Promoting Homophobia

KENILWORTH, 24 JANUARY 2005 — The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has written to the Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, asking him to challenge homophobia in religious schools in the independent sector.

The move follows a speech from Mr Bell last week in which he made clear that independent Muslim schools were not teaching tolerance, particularly of “non-traditional relationships”. A story in the Times Educational Supplement on Friday also indicated that Christian evangelical schools in the same sector were even worse for failing to teach tolerance.

In the letter, George Broadhead, secretary of GALHA, said:

“We were alarmed by comments in your speech to the Hansard Society last week in which you indicated that many Muslim schools in the independent sector were failing in their legal duty to promote tolerance of other cultures. You mentioned that these schools were also failing to promote tolerance of the rights of women and those living in ‘non-traditional relationships’, and we take these to include gay ones.

“The Times Educational Supplement, as you will have seen, has discovered that evangelical Christian schools are even worse from this point of view. We are most concerned about the effects this apparently officially tolerated gay-bashing is having on pupils in these schools who might themselves be gay. We also fear that a whole generation of pupils will emerge from these schools with hostile and even violent reactions to their fellow citizens who happen to be gay or lesbian.

“Community schools have been urged by the Government to tackle the widespread homophobic bullying in schools and yet it seems to be tolerated as official policy in these so-called ‘faith-based’ independent schools. We know that you have been labelled ‘Islamophobic’ for daring to make this public, but we urge you not to be intimidated into silence on this matter. Gay people suffer terribly even in schools where anti-homophobic bullying policies are in effect, so imagine what it must be like for them in schools where the teachers are required to tell them that they are evil and that their feelings are satanic.

“We ask you to draw particular attention to this problem and demand that the Government make hatemongering about gay people in schools – even if it is sanctioned by religious dogma – illegal.”

Mr Broadhead commented: “The awful damage that this kind of religious gay-bashing does to young gay people is immense. We must not tolerate this kind of hatemongering in our schools, whether they are private or not. The Government is giving out completely mixed messages, saying on the one hand that homophobia is not acceptable in schools and then refusing to intervene when it is apparent that it is rife in religious schools.”