Survey to make pre-school classes ‘gay friendly’

Parents in the East End of Glasgow were shocked to be asked about their sex lives, so that their pre-school children would get “gay-friendly” lessons.

Mums and Dads were offered free theatre tickets in exchange for answering a survey about their sexual orientation.

The study was carried out by a local arts group which is part-run by the city council.

Gay-friendly

The aim of the Platform charity’s questionnaire, was to help “monitor the degree to which our programmes are gay-friendly”.

But one mother was very annoyed by the survey.

She said: “What has this got to do with teaching nursery school children? I don’t see what difference it makes whether my husband and I are gay or straight. It’s not really any of their business.”

Describe

The questionnaire asks: “Which of the following options best describes how you think of yourself: heterosexual/straight; gay/lesbian; bisexual; other.”

The Platform charity is providing workshops and performances for under-fives groups.

Platform’s arts manager Jackie Shearer said in defence of the survey: “We are trying to take a measure very objectively of the equalities make-up of the area.”

She added: “We want to provide gay-friendly events where needed but it’s not related to this current activity.”