UK children told, "don't discriminate against gay people" but also, "homosexuality is an abomination"

Via the Guardian news website:

UK Education Secretary Michael Gove has declared, in response to criticism by the TUC, that it was perfectly legal for Roman Catholic schools in Lancashire to distribute booklets provided by a US preacher titled, "Pure Manhood: How to become the man God wants you to be".

The Guardian reports that the booklets advise that contraception ad homosexuality are both "disordered" and "directed against God's natural purpose for sex – babies and bonding."

On top of this, the booklet denies that there is such a thing as "safe sex" (apparently missing the fact that the term that was being used when they taught sex ed at my school was "SAFER sex", and "low risk" rather than "no risk").

At around this point in reading the article, I started to get some very violent urges towards a) faith schools in the UK and b) Michael Gove.

Gove's argument was that although the 2010 Equalities Act forbids discrimination against gay people, those provisions do not extend to the curriculum: so he says it's perfectly okay for schools to say "homosexuality is a disorder and against God" on the one hand, while schools have to say and do "don't discriminate against gay people".

Personally, I don't care what Mr Gove has to say about the matter. In my lexicon, what the booklet amounts to is a form of child abuse. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that sort of cruelty and hatred should not and cannot be protected as "free speech" in any humane society that has any pretensions to civilisation. It certainly cannot be justified as any part of an educational system in such a society.

Put it this way: between 1% and 10% of people in Britain are homosexual. Taking that as a logarithmic scale, I think I'm right in saying that the halfway point would be around 3.4%, or roughly 1 in 34. At current class sizes, that's not far off one kid per classroom is going to be a gay person hearing such vile and vicious language directed at themselves. If the "real" figure is closer to 10% then two or three kids per classroom to whom these booklets were given are going to be subjected to that abuse.

I'm also angry at the denial of safer sex, which is a pretty minor abuse but still evil and perpetrating harm to the children who receive these booklets.

That a government minister can come out and say that it is acceptable that such vile material be a part of a school's sex education curriculum - that the law does not extend to protect children from such hatred - is an outrage. Okay, so in that sense I care very very deeply and personally about what Mr Gove has to say, because this reveals the sort of person we have running our country and education system. He's the sort of person who condones abusive language directed at children.

Do I come across as angry? I hope so, because I am. And there's no words can make me calm about this - the level of wrongness is astounding, even for the Tory government. Reason is not adequate to this, there's no rational argument you can make to suggest that this is somehow acceptable or okay. Anger is the only rational response I can find.

UPDATE: I previously wrote to my MP in December regarding concerns about veiled homophobia in the government's model funding agreement for Academies and Free Schools. I just received a reply forwarded from the Minister responsible for those institutions in the government, with a URL for the current sex and relationship education guidance published by the Department for Education and Employment in 2000.

The document states:

1.30 It is up to schools to make sure that the needs of all pupils are met in their programmes. Young people, whatever their developing sexuality, need to feel that sex and relationship education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs. The Secretary of State for Education and Employment is clear that teachers should be able to deal honestly and sensitively with sexual orientation, answer appropriate questions and offer support. There should be no direct promotion of sexual orientation.

...

1.32 Schools need to be able to deal with homophobic bullying. Guidance issued by the Department (Social Inclusion: Pupil Support Circular 10/99) dealt with the unacceptability of and emotional distress and harm caused by bullying in whatever form – be it racial, as a result of a pupil’s appearance, related to sexual orientation or for any other reason.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that distributing homophobic literature is NOT complying with "Young people, whatever their developing sexuality, need to feel that sex and relationship education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs." I'm also going to say that the current Secretary of State, Mr Gove, does not seem to be remotely clear on "teachers should be able to deal honestly and sensitively with sexual orientation" since there is absolutely no sensitivity shown in allowing such booklets to be distributed in their school.