30,000 sign petition in support of ‘anti-gay’ children
(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
More than 30,000 people have signed a petition in support of two ten-year-olds who were suspended from school after asking to be excused from a Pride month LGBT+ lesson.
Kaysey and Farrell, both from Christian families, attend a school in Croydon, South London. They were suspended for five days.
The two Year 5 students asked to leave the classroom when they were handed LGBT-inclusive material for colouring. The teacher refused their request as the lesson was part of the curriculum.
The religious advocacy group Christian Concern reports that Farrell said he did “not accept LGBT” because of his religion.
The form teacher accused Farrell of using “homophobic language” for allegedly saying “LGBT sucks and LGBT’s dumb,” which the child denies.
Kaysey recorded a video after the incident, explaining why she behaved as she did. In the footage she asserts that her mother is not telling her to say this.
“Before anybody knew what LGBT meant, everybody knew what gender they were. But now people are confused, and they’re saying that they’re bisexual and trans because they’re confused, and people are trying to say it’s OK,” she said.
“Before this happened, they were completely confident of who they were but now they’re not.
“It’s really affecting other kids because now they’re losing confidence in [them]selves and looking at [them]selves and asking, ‘Why am I this person? Why can’t I be someone else?’”
She added: “School children are now facing the choice of what gender they are by the age of four.”
Teacher reported to authorities
Parents of both children insist their children have not made homophobic comments. They have reported the headteacher Susan Papas to the local authorities, citing paragraph 13 of the Exclusions Guidance (2017): “It is unlawful to exclude for a non-disciplinary reason.”
The petition in support of the two students had reached 30,700 signatures at the time of publication. It does not appear that the signatories have a specific goal beyond “applauding” the ten-year-olds.
“Thank you for standing against the LGBT agenda to indoctrinate all public school students with their confusing, sexual propaganda,” the page reads.
“It is terrible for people of your age to have to endure such intolerance and bigotry, directed at you from those who should be supporting and teaching you. But, we stand with you!”
