One of the front-runners for the leadership of the Labour Party in Britain has insisted that teaching that same-sex relationships are on a footing of “absolute equality” with heterosexual ones must be “absolutely compulsory” in all schools,
including faith-based.
including faith-based.
As he continues his campaign to gain the party’s top job, Andy Burnham, the current Shadow Health Secretary, said anyone arguing that such teaching in faith schools represents a threat to religious freedom is “straightforwardly wrong”.
“Not only should Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) be absolutely compulsory,” he said, “but there must be absolute equality in terms of all relationships within Sex and Relationships Education in terms of how it is taught.”
Born into a Catholic family, Mr Burnham recognised that his stance put him at odds with the Church on the issue of same-sex relationships, but, he said, “I have been repeatedly at odds with the Catholic church for all of my time as an MP”. He pointed out that in his fourteen years in Parliament, he had always voted in favour of LGBT rights.
On the broader issue of same-sex marriage, Mr Burnham referenced Ireland’s recent Yes vote and expressed his belief that pressure should now be brought to bear on Northern Ireland to introduce legislation for same-sex marriage.
Mr Burnham’s words came as two couples in Northern Ireland declared their intention to challenge the ban on gay marriage there. The couples, respectively the first and second to enter into civil partnerships in all of the UK when Northern Ireland introduced such partnerships in 2005, are applying to the High Court in Belfast for the ban to be reviewed.
