TheCable

More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the removal of LGBT content from the relationships education curriculum in the United Kingdom.

The UK government responds to all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures, while a total of 100,000 signatures are required for the petition to be considered for debate in parliament.

Fares Rahmani, the creator of the petition which runs for six months, said the inclusion of LGBT content in primary education is unwarranted.

“We believe kids shouldn’t learn about this at an early age. I am sure there are many parents who do not want their or other children taught about LGBT in primary school,” the petition reads.

In 2020, the UK department of education issued “statutory guidance
that will make Relationships Education compulsory for all primary school
pupils, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for all secondary
school pupils, and Health Education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded
schools”.

“The RSE and health education guidance states that all pupils should receive
teaching on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) content during their school years,” a document on the matter reads.

This is not the first time calls have been made to moderate LGBT content in the UK.

In 2020, more than 100,000 people signed an online petition calling for “conversion therapy” to be made illegal.

“Conversion therapy” refers to any form of treatment or psychotherapy which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or to suppress a person’s gender identity.

After surpassing the required number of signatures to be considered for a debate in parliament, the government described the practice as a “complex issue,” adding that it will “consider all options for ending the practice”.