Muslim students joined their parents in chanting against a gay assistant head teacher who had started a program to inform children about same-sex relationships.
Some parents at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham, U.K., have objected to the LGBT program called "No Outsiders" that had been set up by Andrew Moffat, who won an an Order of the British Empire in 2017 for his efforts to promote equality and diversity in education.
In a video, an unnamed speaker could be seen issuing a rallying cry outside the school to children and parents holding up placards.
He said that the inclusiveness program was "not just about telling people there are other families and other types of lifestyles that exist, it is actually aggressively promoting them. Giving a positive spin and telling people that it is OK for you to be Muslim and for you to be gay," The Sun reported.
This is absolute BS. I was at the demo at Parkfield Community School and filmed all of it. No offenses were committed and as usual the mainstream media is trying to demonise the Muslim parents. https://t.co/bK3Uk2K9PG
— Roshan M Salih (@RmSalih) March 9, 2019
The protester then chants: "Mr Moffat. Shame, shame, shame," and schoolchildren and parents start to join in, before lambasting the assistant head teacher for trying "to reinterpret our religious scripture.
"Our beliefs are not here to be changed. This is an aggressive indoctrination that we are against. If it was not aggressive promotion then you would not have had all these parents come out on the street.
"As I have said to you this program is very toxic. Not only are we going to have it abolished at this school but in every school in Birmingham and every school in the country."
West Midlands Police are investigating to see if the speech broke any laws. The force said no formal complaints had been made, although it was investigating homophobic graffiti on the school premises.
Earlier in March, Muslim parents withdrew about 600 children from the school over the lessons, Birmingham Live reported.
Mariam Ahmed, whose 4-year-old daughter is among the pupils at the school, launched a petition that has signed by around 300 parents, to stop children in the school from receiving the lessons.
"I started a petition, because it's just not the right age. We're getting children confused. I'm not saying we don't need to tell our children about it, but we want to tell them when we feel it's appropriate," she told the I news website.
Birmingham City Council's cabinet member for social inclusion, John Cotton, said the local authority was "appalled to see attempts to divide the people of our city by using insulting and incendiary language targeting the LGBT community," the BBC reported
Ezra Stripe of charity Hidayah, which provides support for LGBT members of the Muslim community, told The Sun that the protests came from a sense of "misplaced Muslim pride."
Neither the school nor the protesting group have commented.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
