PARENTS in the London Borough of Waltham Forest are facing court action for withdrawing their primary school children from lessons on gay and lesbian history.
The controversial lessons at George Tomlinson school included books about homosexual partnerships such as King and King.
The council has told parents that their children's absence will be treated as truancy.
The parents who objected on moral and religious grounds said the content was not appropriate to such young children. This comes at a time when the Government is planning to introduce compulsory sex education for five-year-olds.
At present, parents have a legal right to withdraw their children from religious and sex education lessons. But as Patricia Morgan, an author on this subject said: "A five-year-old is incapable of understanding sex.
"Teaching them about it amounts to grooming - suggesting that there is something exciting to do when you are older."
Many parents will agree with this. For a local authority to threaten parents who withhold their children from lessons on homosexuality is an outrage and an attack on the rights of parents to decide how their children are introduced to the sensitive subject of relationships and sexuality.
GERARD BATTEN MEP
UK Independence Party London
