Teachers should not have to promote gay rights

Plans which will side-step Section 28 have been exposed by the Christian Institute in a report published today. Clause 5 of the General Teaching Council’s (GTC’s) code requires teachers to “fully respect” sexual orientation and to challenge stereotypes. Cut the Clause calls for the scrapping of the gay rights Clause in the draft professional code for teachers in England. The public consultation on the code ends on 20th July.

All teachers in state schools must be registered with the GTC, the new teaching regulator.

The GTC claim that their new code will only be used to take away a teacher’s licence in “limited” cases, but the Institute’s report highlights the fact that LEAs, headteachers and governors will be able to apply the code which will have a recognised legal status.

Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute, said today

“There is a world of difference between respecting homosexuals as people, and forcing teachers to respect homosexual practice and promote gay rights. All teachers must respect their colleagues and pupils as people. But no teacher should be compelled to respect a behaviour they believe is morally wrong.”

The report goes on to suggest that the code will lead to:

1. Lesbian teachers arguing that teaching on parenting should cover adoption by homosexuals

Mr Hart continued : “The GTC is well intentioned. They may not want to side step Section 28 but that is precisely what will happen. They seem to be unaware how their code will be used in practice. If this code is enforced, any teacher who believes that homosexuality is wrong will fear for their job. How will Christian teachers be able to work in state schools? “

“With one exception the professional code is likely to be widely accepted in the teaching profession. But in Clause 5 the GTC have gone well beyond equal opportunities.”

“Differences of gender, race or disability are not matters of morality, whereas for most people, sexual behaviour definitely is. According to the National Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles study, 70% of men believe that homosexual practice is “always or mostly wrong”. The implication of the code is that such people are not fit to be teachers.”

A copy of the report “Cut the Clause” is available on our website at https://www.christian.org.uk or contact:Colin Hart or Simon Calvert on 0191 281 5664