London mayoral candidate David Kurten thinks now is a good time to let you know he’s against LGBT-inclusive education in schools
Mayoral candidate and former UKIP spokesperson, David Kurten (Matt Cardy/Getty)
London mayoral hopeful David Kurten is campaigning for election as the only candidate who opposes LGBT-inclusive education, which will soon be compulsory across the UK.
As British schools wrestle with whether to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, Kurten chose this moment to argue against what he sees as “indoctrination by the progressive, cultural Marxist and LGBT lobbies”.
In a “disgraceful” speech at the London Assembly, the former UKIP education spokesperson described the parents and schools challenging the progressive curriculum as “heroic” and “absolutely right”. He suggested they should be allowed to restrict children from learning of the existence of LGBT+ people.
Kurten, who has previously made comments linking homosexuality to childhood sexual abuse, expanded on his views in a blog post calling for LGBT-inclusive legislation to be rolled back in favour of free speech.
“In bowing to the demands of the mostly-childless LGBT lobby, the Westminster elite has again proven it is wholly out-of-touch with the vast majority of parents and grandparents who do not want the state to undermine traditional family and faith values by forcing children to learn about homosexual relationships and transgenderism at an age which is too much too young,” Kurten said.
He accused “the fake-Conservative government” of “deliberately usurping the role of parents” by imposing a set of values that he believes are anti-conservative, anti-family and anti-faith.
I am the only London Mayoral candidate who opposes compulsory LGBT-inclusive Relationships and Sex Education in schools, to be introduced in England in the next school year. https://t.co/558Pil95eK
— David Kurten (@davidkurten) August 10, 2020
David Kurten wants to scrap the Equality Act.
Kurten claimed that many educational programs which confront homophobic bullying are actually “LGBT propaganda materials” designed to sow confusion in vulnerable children and undermine family values.
He called for the Equality Act and other pro-LGBT+ legislation to be overhauled or scrapped altogether, along with a “root and branch reform” of the education regulator Ofsted to change its focus from an “illiberal-leftist obsession with ‘equality, diversity and inclusion'”.
Kurten’s views were stridently condemned by Labour’s Leonie Cooper, who said of his London Assembly speech: “How disgusting, how disgraceful.
“I know it’s part of your platform that you’ve just launched standing as an independent against political correctness… sometimes you say things and we laugh at you because all you want to talk about is running flags for Brexit, [but] this is the kind of pernicious, disgusting statement that has no place in this London Assembly.
“I cannot wait until both the Brexit party and UKIP fail to meet the 5 per cent threshold and you are gone from this chamber.”
More than 30 leading charities and campaigners have warned that protests against LGBT-inclusive education echo the damaging rhetoric of Section 28, and that such teaching “is crucial in building a society based on tolerance and respect”.
They are supported by national and international research which shows that LGBT-inclusive relationships and sex education “overwhelmingly” benefits children and society, resulting in less risky sexual behaviour, increased use of contraception and improved attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health.
Last year MPs voted 538 to 21 in favour of introducing the teaching across the UK. The progressive curriculum will be compulsory in all schools from September 2020 — well before the London mayoral elections in May 2021.
PinkNews has reached out to David Kurten for comment but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
