Schools will be compelled to teach children about same-sex marriage if the institution is redefined, a Conservative MP has warned.
The Westminster Government is currently consulting on its plans to redefine marriage, but Matthew Offord MP has made clear that he will not vote for any change to the current law.
The MP for Hendon has warned that parents who object to their children being taught about same-sex marriage will be treated “as bigots and outcasts”.
Consequences
In 2008, 18 school children aged five and six were taken on a school field trip to a gay wedding in San Francisco.
Mr Offord, whose comments were made in response to correspondence from a constituent, said: “If marriage is redefined, schools will have no choice but to give children equivalent teaching on same sex marriage, even those children of a very young age, including those at primary school.”
He added: “It is simply inconceivable in today’s world where political correctness runs amok in our institutions, that there would not be profound consequences for those who hold traditional views.
“Parents who object will be treated as bigots and outcasts, possibly excluded from being on the PTA, or from being a governor.”
Disciplinary
“And what of the teachers who object to teaching about same sex marriage. Will they face disciplinary action? How will it affect their careers?”
Mr Offord said that it was his “strong personal, moral and religious belief that the institution of marriage is to provide the foundation of a stable relationship in which those two people of the opposite sex procreate and raise a child”.
But Chris Bryant, a homosexual Labour MP, said: “The argument that marriage is just about procreation is as cruel to those straight couples who find love past the age of childbearing, are not able to have children or indeed choose not to have children as it is offensive to gay couples, whether they choose to adopt or not.
Petition
“And the passage about schooling not only veers towards calling for a reintroduction of that bigoted piece of legislation, Section 28, but is laughable in suggesting that legalising same sex marriage would increase prejudice.”
Over half a million people have signed a petition in defence of the current definition of marriage. The petition is being run by the Coalition for Marriage.