MP Letter: Protect RSE

Protect LGBT-inclusive education

Writing to your MP can help to get the campaign to protect LGBT-inclusive RSE in schools on the political agenda and show this is an issue their constituents care about. We campaign in parliament as an organisation, and your support will bolster our case. It is quick easy and helps your MP represent you in Parliament.

Tell your MP that they must protect LGBT-inclusive RSE.

Read our latest briefing on 'Protect LGBT-inclusive RSE' to ensure that you are up to date and well informed surrounding this issue.

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Personalising your letter will make it more likely to have an impact.
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Use clear and simple language.

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Dear {{name}}

I am writing as a constituent to ask you to help raise the issue of protecting LGBT-inclusive RSE in schools.

I hope that you will consider supporting the National Secular Society’s (NSS) campaign to ensure Relationship and Sex Education is taught in all state-funded schools, including faith schools.

I am extremely concerned about the fact that faith schools can “teach in accordance with the tenets of their faith”. This excludes key information about LGBT issues or contraceptives which is essential for all children to learn about.

It must be made clear that this is not an opportunity or invitation for parental veto or restriction of subject content.

I, therefore, ask you to urge the Education Secretary to reconsider the requirement for schools to take into account the religious background of their pupils when planning RSE teaching.

As you are no doubt aware, there is a growing, highly organised protest movement against inclusive RSE. This has been exemplified by the national coverage of protests at schools around the country; in many cases, teachers have been extremely intimidated and some have even received death threats. In several cases schools have suspended lessons in response.

Some faith schools are trying to exploit loopholes in Department for Education regulations to avoid teaching RSE or aspects of it which do not conform to their religious ethos.

In particular, Orthodox Jewish schools have claimed teaching that treats LGBT people equally is not “age-appropriate”. At least one state school has written to parents encouraging them to withdraw their children from RSE.

These developments pose a significant threat to the future of RSE and efforts to make our schools inclusive and remind us that the enduring blight of homophobia cannot be ignored or wished away.

All schools should be aware of cultural sensitivities and how pupils’ backgrounds may influence their views on different issues. However, regard for the religious backgrounds of pupils must not serve as a euphemism for restricting or diluting relationships or sex education.

There is no valid reason for schools to vary the form or content of RSE based on the religious background of their pupils – indeed to do so may be discriminatory.

If parents continue to be told that schools must take their religious background into account, without clear limits on what this means, then reactionaries will feel emboldened to push for concessions, including the marginalisation of LGBT issues.

A perceived refusal to respect ‘religious backgrounds’ will then feed a grievance narrative that stands to harm integration and cohesion.

I also ask you to press the government to clarify that homosexuality is no less age-appropriate than heterosexuality. The government must cease giving cover to those who claim that the age appropriateness of LGBT issues is somehow different to any other area of RSE.

Furthermore, the government must take steps to support the wellbeing and safety of staff and pupils at schools affected by anti-RSE protests.

We’ve come a long way in LGBT rights and equality in the UK, and we should take immense pride in this.

Please don’t let us go backwards – please urge the Secretary of State to act, and either remove the requirement for schools to take into account the religious background of their pupils when planning RSE teaching or otherwise make clear that this should not lead to the restriction of LGBT-inclusive education.

I know that I am not alone in feeling strongly about this matter, you can find many supporters of the campaign at: secularism.org.uk/sex-education/

I look forward to hearing your views on this matter

Yours sincerely,

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MP Letter: Protect RSE

Protect LGBT-inclusive education

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