Suffer the little children…. SNEAKY!

While no one’s been looking, the DfE has been busy.  On November 5^th, immediately before Parliament’s dissolution on November 6th, and before the Government and civil service went into purdah in the run up to the General Election on 12th December, they issued a revised response to the new Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Regulations (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/relationships-education-relationships-and
-sex-education-rse-and-health-education-faqs).  This replaced the earlier response published on 5th April 2019 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190815101513/https:/www.gov.uk
/government/news/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education-faqs).  For those unfamiliar with the term ‘purdah’ as it relates to elections, it means that there are restrictions in place on government business and all communications to the public.  The DfE therefore literally slid this in at the very last moment… and people have been so tied up with the general election that it has largely passed without notice.

So why does this matter?

The reason is simple.  This is not a change to the Guidance, but there are a number of highly significant changes to the Government view of how the Regulations should be interpreted and applied.   The previous response stated that Primary schools would be encouraged to include LGBT content, it they considered it age appropriate, but that there was no specific requirement for this.  In other words, it left schools with discretion on whether or not to include such teaching, and if they didn’t want to, they could simply say they didn’t feel if was age-appropriate.

But in this new response the wording has changed.  Now the relevant section reads, “Pupils should receive teaching on LGBT content during their school years. Teaching children about the society that we live in and the different types of loving, healthy relationships that exist can be done in a way that respects everyone. Primary schools are strongly encouraged and enabled to cover LGBT content when teaching about different types of families.” (italics added)

It is immediately obvious that this marks a sea-change in attitude, and will make it extremely difficult for schools to resist.  The LGBT lobby will no doubt be jubilant, but it is an open assault on the right of parents, enshrined under law in the Human Rights Act 1998, to have children educated in line with their religious or philosophical beliefs.  It also flies in the face of the Equality Act 2010, which lists religion or belief as one of the nine protected and protectable characteristics, alongside such things as sex, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment.

As laid down in the Regulations, schools will still be required to consult with parents in developing RSE policies, but the document is unequivocal – it is up to schools to decide the way forward, and ‘consultation’ in no way provides a parental veto.   It is up to schools to decide when and how the content is delivered.

Yet again, the DfE displays utter contempt for the putative rights of parents – in fact, in their book such rights appear not to exist, because the State clearly knows best.  And, by extension, children belong to the State.

This is not democracy.  It is totalitarian ideology devised by Secular and LGBT activists determined to force their bigoted views onto the rest of society, and supported by a department that prioritises their wishes.  And does so in a highly devious fashion.  However dressed up in weasel words of tolerance and inclusivity, it is a view openly hostile to faith.

It is time for Christians to wake up and speak out – and to reject the demonic belief system that blithely sacrifices the nations’ young on the altar of so-called diversity.