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Adhedo, whose son has since been withdrawn from the school, was due to meet school governors on Tuesday evening to press a formal complaint.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.”
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s