Parents SHOULD be allowed to withdraw children from LGBT sex-education lessons, says Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom

• Andrea Leadsom said: ‘It’s right that parents should be able to choose’
• Commons Leader backed sex education but said parents should choose when
• Prime Minister Theresa May was urged to condemn her at PMQs today
• Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle attacked ‘bigots’ who want to silence LGBT people

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Parents should be allowed to withdraw their children from LGBT sex-education lessons, says Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom.

Prime Minister Theresa May was urged to ‘condemn’ Mrs Leadsom at PMQs today by a Labour MP who attacked ‘bigots that don’t want LGBT people to be heard in schools.’

Mrs Leadsom told LBC earlier: ‘I think that it’s right that the Government should have passed legislation that requires that relationships and sex education is taught in schools.

‘But, at the same time, I also agree that it’s right that parents should be able to choose the moment at which their children become exposed to that information.

Andrea Leadsom (pictured outside Downing Street today) told LBC radio: ‘Parents should be able to choose the moment at which their children become exposed to that information’

Lloyd Russell-Moyle looks animated at PMQs today as he urged the Prime Minister to condemn Mrs Leadsom

‘And there are steps taken to enable parents to withdraw their children from classes up to a certain age.’

Mrs Leadsom’s remarks come at a time when a number of schools in Birmingham have been forced to suspend their teaching over fury at the new curriculum which requires lessons on gay and trans people. 

Asked if five-year-olds should receive such lessons, she added: ‘I would be entirely happy for my children to grow up finding that their LGBT classmates are exactly the same as them.

‘One of my own kids was in a class with a friend who had two mums and that was absolutely normal right from a very young age.

‘I think it’s important that we absolutely accept equality in every area whilst at the same time respecting that parents may have concerns about how young their children are when they become aware of these things.’ 

• Four more Birmingham primary schools halt equality lessons… The school gate culture war: Decision by a gay assistant…

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But the comments drew the ire of Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Labour’s MP for Brighton Kemptown, who said: ‘This is Conservative Party dog-whistle politics. Will the Prime Minister condemn the Leader of the House?

‘Will she condemn bigots that don’t want LGBT people to be heard in schools, and will she support Ofsted with good LGBT education in schools?’

He also criticised Mrs May, pointing out that she had ‘campaigned to keep Section 28’ which prevented the ‘promotion of homosexuality’, which he said ‘led to millions of young people like myself growing in fear of being LGBT’.

Mr Russell-Moyle said: ‘I thought the Prime Minister had seen the error of her ways, but this morning the Leader of the House (Mrs Leadsom) said on radio that parents should decide when they are ‘exposed’ to LGBT education.

Mrs May said she was ‘very happy to write to him’ with the detailed advice to schools on LGBT education in schools, but sparked anger from the Labour benches by failing to mentions Mrs Leadsom’s comments. 

Prime Minister Theresa May sitting with her frontbench today in the Commons (left) and Mr Russell-Moyle (right)

Ms Leadsom later released a statement saying: ‘As I said this morning, it is vital that every child is taught about the need for tolerance and respect, at home and in school, and that they demonstrate these values towards LGBT individuals at all times.

‘I believe wholeheartedly in equality and ensuring children grow up accepting and respecting the diversity that shapes our country.

‘Government policy allows parents to choose when their child takes part in sex education lessons of all kind, up until the age of 15.

‘This unacceptable and deliberate misrepresentation of my views will have genuinely hurt my own LGBT friends and family, as well as the wider LGBT community.’ 

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