A top London girl's school that charges around £10,000 ($15,177) a year stands accused of discrimination after telling a visiting theatre company to drop homosexuality from a sex education play
The Black Cat Theatre Company said that a teacher asked it to avoid any discussion of gay relationships during a sex education session at St Margaret's School, in London. A whilst they complied with the request, they have condemned the request as "morally reprehensible". They also claim the school in Hampstead, north London, is risking its pupils' health by denying them important safety information.
The whole row blew up when Black Cat visited St Margaret's last month to perform a show as part of a sex and relationship education programme. Teachers at the school chose not to book the company's show on gay relationships, 'When Larry met Gary'. But instead took one on the dangers of substance and alcohol abuse, which culminated in a boy being drugged and raped by another boy, which prompted a member of staff to walk out. In a statement the school said: "Knowing that this section had been considered inappropriate by some staff, the PSHE co-ordinator respectfully asked if the next shows, on under-age sexual activity and handling peer pressure to have sex, might avoid gay sex as a topic matter."
Barry Lillie from Black Cat told the TLS "It seemed very odd in this day and age. If you are going to broaden children's minds about sex you have got to talk to them about all different types of sex. It is no less important in a girls' school. There are girls that are gay as well as boys. They can come up against the same prejudices and also catch sexually transmitted diseases. We were absolutely astounded that a school would potentially puts it pupils in danger."
He said the ban had led the actors to skirt around important issues like HIV and anal sex. No other school had asked for them to leave out material on gay relationships.
The Head of the school said "It is an area that people have individual viewpoints about" and "It was best to take a cautious line"
Nice to see the girls of St Margaret's will get a nice rounded education!!
Jason Shaw
GayAgenda.com's
UK Correspondent
"A deeply engaging and personal blog, laced with wit, humour, and a healthy dose of reality" Borstal Boy, Writer, UK.
"Jason has his finger on the pulse of the nation, and declares it dead! His witty, clever and accurate observations amuse and inform" Alex Blair, London.
© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw
No comments:
Post a Comment