COMMONS Leader Andrea Leadsom has defended the right for parents to withdraw their children from LGBT lessons.
She waded into the growing row after four more schools axed LGBT classes.
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The Tory Cabinet minister said parents should be able to “choose the moment at which their children should become exposed to that information” up until their 16th birthday.
Mrs Leadsom, a devout Christian, said her own kids grew up with a friend with two mums and said it was “absolutely vital that children grow up understanding the society they live in and they grow up tolerant and seeking equality and respecting differences”.
And she pointed out that the Government had passed legislation that required relationships and sex education is taught in school.
But speaking on LBC she added: “At the same time I also agree that it’s right that parents should be able to choose the moment at which their children should become exposed to that information and there are steps taken to enable parents to withdraw their children from classes up until a certain age.”
It comes after four schools in Birmingham became the latest to suspend LGBT rights lessons after protests from Muslim parents.
‘PARENTS SHOULD CHOOSE’
Muslim mums and dads claim the classes are not appropriate for young kids and contradict Islam.
The latest schools to ditch the “No Outsiders” Birmingham scheme are Leigh Primary, Alston Primary, Wyndcliff Primary and Marlborough Junior & Infants.
Leigh said it was merely suspending lessons until it could reach agreement with parents after Ramadan in May.
It said it wanted to find “a positive way” of teaching equality. The city’s Parkfield Community School suspended LGBT teaching earlier this month after a spate of demos outside its gates.
Its assistant head Andrew Moffat created the scheme there in 2014.
He was made an MBE for services to equality and diversity in 2017.
But parents at the predominantly Muslim primary began protests earlier this year.
They accused him of promoting homosexuality and starting lessons without their consent.
Earlier this month they withdrew hundreds of children for a day. Last week Ofsted inspectors said the lessons were “age-appropriate”.
