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Issued By Let Kids Be Kids Coalition

Press Release

14 September 2020

PARENTS FROM MULTI-FAITH BACKGROUNDS UNITE TO FIGHT GOVERNMENT OVER NEW ‘SEX AND RELATIONSHIP’ TEACHING

Christian, Jewish and Muslim parents are commencing a Judicial Review of the Education Secretary’s decision not to allow parents to withdraw children from new Sex and Relationship Education classes. The controversial Relationship and Sex curriculum came into effect in all schools in England on 1^st September; and has commenced.

Although schools have just returned after the Covid-lockdown, the Government’s decision to ban parents from withdrawing children from relationship education lessons now faces a Judicial Review as parents say the new Guidelines require children as young as five to attend ‘compulsory classes’, with topics likely to include Transgender and LGBTQI issues, seen by the Government as ‘building blocks of consent’.

For the first time, the Department for Education’s Guidance makes clear that the ultimate decision as to what should be taught rests with the school, and that parents will have ‘no veto’ over Transgender or LGBT content, nor have parents the ability to withdraw their child from specific lessons, like they have for generations before.

The Let Kids Be Kids Coalition, a group set up only in 2020 to represent the rights of parents has networked with community leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faith groups in order to bring the legal action. It wants the new classes to be ‘optional’, and for children not to be exposed to ideologies “which do not reflect the religious or philosophical convictions of families”.

Many primary schools have already introduced teaching on sexual orientation and gender dysphoria to young children, with books such as ‘King and King’, ‘And Tango makes Three’ and ‘My Princess Boy’ becoming normalised. The Government claims that young children need to be aware of life in modern Britain. Thus far, 1,500 schools are known to be early adopters of the new material. Bizarrely, the Education Secretary, whilst having praised these 1,500 ‘Early Adopter’ schools; has refused to provide any information on what is being taught by saying he does not hold any information!

Charlie Colchester, Chair of the Let Kids Be Kids Coalition, said: “There is ideological pressure to sexualise children at an early age. The Government, in thrall to propagandists, is steamrollering parents age-old rights. Why?

“What have parents done wrong, that they are being targeted in this way? Parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing of children; children are vulnerable and Transgender and LGBT teaching to primary school children is age inappropriate and will only confuse them.

“In 2011 a Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, campaigned against ‘the oversexualisation of children’. In 2020, a Conservative administration has declared ‘open season’ on the sexualisation of children. Why? What on earth have children done to deserve this fate?”

“The removal of the right to opt-out of classes without explanation is a fundamental change to the ‘right to withdraw’ that parents have had for decades in relation to sex education. Now parents are powerless”.

The campaign group has written a letter to the Government ahead of the Judicial Review, insisting that the country has been left with “an educational regime which, taken as a whole, no longer gives effect to the rights of parents to ensure teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions, and is therefore in breach of the parents’ rights.” The government has rejected any breach of the law and has confirmed that it intends to fully implement the curriculum now that schools have returned.

The Let Kids Be Kids Coalition has now commenced their Claim, and are seeking a Judicial Review. Parents are now ‘crowd-funding’ for legal costs to seek a hearing to stop the current Guidance being implemented and harming children further. Let Kids Be Kids Coalition has instructed international human rights barrister Paul Diamond to represent them, and has set up a website to encourage parents to join the movement and donate.

Parents seeking more information about Let Kids Be Kids Coalition can visit www.letkidsbekidscoalition.org

ENDS

For further information/interview:

Charlie Colchester, Chair of LKBKC +4420 3137 7953 and [email protected]

Paul Diamond (Barrister) +44 7979 837714 [email protected]

Paul Eddy (PR Consultant) +44 7923 653781 [email protected]

Editor’s Notes:

● The new RSE came into effect on 1st September 2020 and made ‘Relationships Education’ mandatory for all primary school children, and Relationship and Sex Education mandatory for Secondary School children.

● The Children and Social Work Act 2017, when passed, detailed the need for Relationship Education as addressing cyber abuse, online chats, boundaries in relationships, abusive and manipulative relationships etc. The Regulations said there should be ‘no Right of Withdrawal for Relationship Education’ but remained for Sex Education. However, material regarded as sex education has now been put into Relationship Education, for which there is no right to withdraw.

● It was only in June 2019 that the content of the ‘Relationship Education’ became known when the Guidance was published. Link to Guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805781/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf

● All schools (including faith schools) must teach directly on same sex marriage and civil partnerships; and attend to needs of homosexual and gender re-alignment pupils. The Guidance on Relationship and Sex Education provides, amongst other things, Paragraph 37: LGBT teaching should be fully integrated into the School; and not taught as a stand- alone subject.