Catholic and other faith school could be forced to teach children an LGBT course under recommendations from the Oireachtas Education Committee. According to The Irish Independent, a draft report calls for a radical overhaul of Relationships and Sexuality Education so that both secondary and primary school children would be taught about LGBT issues “without distinction as to their heterosexual counterparts”.
It also recommends changing legislation to ensure that even denominational schools, such as those owned by the Catholic Church, are required to teach the new programme – even though it would be against their ethos.
The report says the new RSE programme should be “fully inclusive of LGBT relationships and experiences, including sexual orientation, gender identity and the spectrums thereof”.
It adds: “Consideration should be given to the inclusion within curriculums of LGBT specific sexual health issues and the presentation of LGBT relationships without distinction as to their heterosexual counterparts.”
It also calls for the introduction of a system for recording incidences of homophobic or transphobic bullying in schools. Primary and secondary teachers would also have to provide classes on sexual consent under the reforms.
A curriculum on sex education for people with intellectual disabilities, including classes on sexuality and contraception, is also proposed.
