A London primary school is facing the prospect of legal action after a Christian parent formally complained about a “Proud to be Me” event she claims promoted LGBT lifestyles.
Heavers Farm school in South Norwood has strongly denied that it organized a “gay pride parade” earlier this year, but Izoduwa Adhedo claims her son was forced to take part “in an event that goes against our Christian beliefs.”
Adhedo, whose son has since been withdrawn from the school, was due to meet school governors on Tuesday evening to press a formal complaint. She is being supported by Christian Concern, a conservative evangelical organization whose legal arm takes up cases of perceived religious discrimination. A spokesperson said the Adhedo family was looking at potential legal action if the complaint was not resolved.
Photo: Reuters
The complaint centers on an event organized by the school in June, in which pupils were encouraged to march with banners highlighting what made them proud to be themselves.
In a message to parents, the school said: “At this parade each child will be celebrating what makes them proud of themselves and their family. We encourage you to talk to your children about what they will be celebrating.”
Susan Papas, the headteacher, said that “[e]quality is a thread that goes through our curriculum. We’ve done projects on black history month, disability and women’s history. At the end of the year we decided to do something on anti-homophobia as part of Pride month, taking the idea that people and families can be different but everyone can be proud. There were some objections but they were outweighed by support.”
She declined to comment on Adhedo’s complaint, saying she could not discuss individual pupils or their families.
In a statement, Adhedo said: “After I complained about my young child being forced to take place in an event that goes against our Christian beliefs, the school’s attitude towards me changed completely. I know other parents who are afraid to speak up because of how the school has treated me. It was like being bullied. They stopped treating me like any other parent but were antagonistic towards me.”
Adhedo said the school retaliated against her by unreasonably excluding her from the premises, victimizing her child and not taking her safeguarding concerns seriously.
“I wasn’t even trying to stop the Pride event. I just wanted my child to receive an education, rather than indoctrination,” she said.
According to Christian Concern, Adhedo withdrew her son from the school last month after he was put in detention for three hours. The school insisted its maximum detention was one hour, in line with its behavior policy.
Roger Kiska of Christian Concern said: “It is inappropriate for children to be proselytized on this issue. The school has crossed a line.”
Under the Human Rights Act, schools were obliged to respect the rights of parents’ religious and philosophical convictions in providing education, he added.
Heaver Farm school had run a “systematic campaign celebrating [LGBT] lifestyles,” he said. “It goes beyond a parade, including children being read to from certain books and posters being put on walls. When you start making that the enterprise of education it becomes proselytizing.”
According to the school’s policy published on its Web site, “issues such as bullying, racism, homophobia, sexism and prejudice are dealt with in lessons and assemblies. Classes visit places of worship that are important to different faiths. Special celebration events are held and parents and visitors from different cultures, faiths or religions share their beliefs, customs, food and knowledge; all greatly enhancing learning within the schools.”
Earlier this year, the Christian Legal Center, an organization linked to Christian Concern, took up the case of Alfie Evans, a terminally ill infant whose parents contested medical advice to turn off his ventilator.
It is also representing a Christian couple accused of discriminating against LGBT guests at their Welsh guest house, and others “who have suffered discrimination and challenges because of their desire to live and work according to biblical beliefs.”
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would