Around 600 children were removed by their parents from a school in Birmingham on Friday in protest of a lesson that helped children understand about LGBT+ life.
The Parkfield Community primary school in Birmingham has cancelled lessons aiming to teach primary school-aged children about same-sex relationships and gender after the parents of around 600 students at the school withdrew their children in protest.
The children are thought to be from predominately Muslim families, according to The Guardian.
The lesson was the brainchild of Andrew Moffat, who was awarded an MBE for his work in LGBT+ equality through the campaign, No Outsiders, where the ethos was to promote LGBT+ equality and to question transphobia and homophobia in primary schools.
Students were being taught five No Outsiders lessons each school year.
In a letter to parents, the school said, “Up to the end of this term, we will not be delivering any No Outsiders lessons in our long term year curriculum plan, as this half term has already been blocked for religious education (RE).
“Equality assemblies will continue as normal and our welcoming No Outsiders ethos will be there for all.
The school has now confirmed that they have put the lessons on hold and will, according to The Guardian, “resume only after a full consultation with every parent”.
The letter continued, “The discussions were a helpful first step and identified the key issues that are concerning parents, including the ethos, the books, the age appropriateness, the lessons and the assemblies. The agreed outcome of the meeting was the need to have a discussion with the school community about the No Outsiders curriculum and how it should be delivered.”
Some parents have argued that their children are “too young” to be learning about same-sex relationships.
One mother, Fatima Shah said, “We are not a bunch of homophobic mothers. We just feel that some of these lessons are inappropriate. Some of the themes being discussed are very adult and complex and the children are getting confused.
“They need to be allowed to be children rather than having to constantly think about equalities and rights.”
