Sex Education Bill That Would Have Educated About Homosexuality Hampered By Conservatives

The government has been forced to backtrack on a plan to make sex education compulsory for students over the age of 15 in order to make sure that the legislation was able to become law before May 6th. Dropping several parts of the legislation following stiff opposition from the Tories the education secretary Ed Balls is now likely to face criticism from gay rights campaigners and groups who had welcomed the changes which would have meant all students would have been taught about homophobic bullying and gay relationships as part of their sex education lessons.

First facing the wrath of the Accord Coalition in February for diluting the legislation to allow faith schools to teach homosexuality in a way that fitted with their beliefs, this new climbdown is likely to be met with further criticism and see the future government lobbied to address the issue of homophobic bullying that many do not believe is adequately covered in this new reduced legislation.

Alongside the watering down of teaching homosexuality other changes that failed to make it through included making parents sign behaviour contracts with schools and a guarantee of one on one tuition in maths and English for those following behind. The new legislation would have also meant that all teenagers from the age of 15 would have been taught about sexual activity, contraception, abortion and adoption, as well as not allowing parents to exclude their child from the lessons for a year.

Forced to be diluted in this way due to the Conservatives and external groups believing that the changes would have a negative impact that not only sidelines parents, but also would act to construct teenage pregnancy as acceptable, a Conservative spokesman said

“The government torpedoed its own proposals. We wanted progress on sex education, but the government preferred petulance. We agreed an all-party way forward to guarantee high quality sex education which respected the rights of parents and faith groups.”

Vocal about his unhappiness with the Conservatives opposition to the bill from the off Ed Balls said:

“There is now widespread agreement that statutory PSHE (personal, social, health, and economic education) is essential to prepare young people for adult life, and our reforms would ensure that by reducing the age of parental opt-out to 15, all children receive at least one year of compulsory sex and relationship education.

“This is a very significant setback, which will deny many young people proper and balanced sex and relationship education.”

Responding to the watered down legislation, Lisa Power of the Terrance Higgins Trust called the move “disgraceful” and that:

“We will see the impact on young people who haven’t had decent sex and relationships education. The girl who gets pregnant because the only education she got was in the playground, the people who use the word ‘gay’ as an insult,”

“This isn’t just about sex – it’s about relationships, it’s about bullying, it’s about a whole raft of things.”

Derek Munn,  the Stonewall’s public affairs director has said that Stonewall will act to lobby the next government to push for the changes to be implemented.

Photo by LizMarie.