Muslim parents ask UK schools to shelve pro-homosexual storybooks for 5-year-olds: "Two primary schools have withdrawn storybooks about same-sex relationships after objections from Muslim parents.
Up to 90 gathered at the schools to complain about the books which are aimed at pupils as young as five.
One story, titled King & King, is a fairytale about a prince who turns down three princesses before marrying one of their brothers."
The mind boggles.
Will the gay "community" now burn down the Bristol mosque?
I wonder how this will affect the "Buy Danish" community?
Remember, those are the ones who put little stripes in their blogs saying "Buy Danish" after a Denish newspaper published some anti-Islamic cartoons.
And what will the 5-year-old community do?
The bated-breath community is on tenterhooks.
6 comments:
Hi Steve, you may be unaware that the Daily Mail (which originally published this story) is a right-wing newspaper which loves to stir up controversy about both the LGBT community and Muslims. Personally I will wait until I see this story in a more respectable newspaper.
I agree that this artificial dividing people up into communities is divisive and a recipe for conflict.
I very much doubt that there was any explicit sexual content in these story-books. What's wrong with showing children that there are alternative lifestyles? They are very likely to see gay couples around the place; they might as well know that it's widely accepted in Britain.
PS - here is the BBC version.
Sounds like the school acted on its own initiative to interpret the guidance on bullying, and didn't consult the LGBT community either. Stonewall have some very good resources about homophobic bullying.
Yvonne,
You're on the spot, so perhaps you have a better idea of what's really going on than the newspapers, who often get the wrong end of the stick. What struck me about it is that there seem to be so many conflicting value systems in society that all it is likely to do is get the kids confused.
I was thinking of adding this to some other stories and blogging about that, but perhaps it isn't a good example.
Ironically, I first heard about this story on your blog, and not via any local news.
The majority view in Britain is accepting of LGBT people; the diehard homophobes are in a minority. Sadly they are also violent.
If parents can't teach their kids to be tolerant, I guess it's up to the schools to do so.
Here is the local coverage of the story:
8 April: How much do children really need to know?
3 April: Our schools must tackle homophobia
1 April: Schools must halt lessons on homosexuality
Hi Yvonne and Steve,
I am a homosexual residing in South Africa and actually found out about this a few months ago, and the subsequent withdrawal of these books from a lot of schools.
I must admit that even me as a non-parent, feel that exposure for children at such a young age to the fact of same-sex relationships, is pushing it a bit.
Though both books were well-written, with no intention to shock, they should rather target an older age group, and also make sure that parents are ready to support their children fully after such a reading.
Another problem was that a lot of the parents literally heard of the new books through the mouths of their children. If anyone should plan something like this here, I do hope that parents will be consulted properly, and even be given the books to read beforehand. Hopefully they will arrange discussion groups beforehand as well in order to prepare parents for any questions that might be asked by their children.
Although they wanted to create awareness to the fact of same-sex relationships, I do feel that perhaps it is better to make children understand that no matter the type of relationship, values and belief play a huge part in any type of relationship and you as a human being, and we (as Yvonne said) "should be tolerant" of other people's relationships and beliefs, no matter their color, creed or orientation.
Sometimes I am thankful that I am not a parent that has to worry each day about the bad things children are exposed to in this world, and other times I know that I miss out on so much joy. But one thing is for sure, I am not alone in wishing that the children out there will grow up to be tolerant, happy people in a safe environment.
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