The Prince Married A Man, And Lived Happily Ever After

A pilot scheme introducing books dealing with gay issues to children from the ages of four to 11 has just been launched in England’s schools. It is being argued that the books, one of which is a fairytale featuring a prince who turns down three princesses before falling in love and marrying a man, are necessary to make homosexuality seem normal to children.

Fourteen schools and one local authority, backed by teaching unions and a government-funded organisation, are running the controversial scheme, which has been attacked by Christian groups.

Twenty years ago the publication of Jenny Lives With Eric And Martin for use in schools led to an angry public debate. In response the government passed Section 28, an amendment to the Local Government Act 1988, that prevented local authorities and, by extension, schools from ‘promoting homosexuality’ or its acceptability as a ‘pretended family relationship’. The amendment was repealed in 2003 and this is the first large-scale attempt to put similar books back into the curriculum. Other books on the list of recommended texts for the schools, which have not been named, include a story about a spacegirl with two mothers and a baby penguin with two fathers. If successful, the scheme will be extended nationwide.

‘The most important thing these books do is reflect reality for young children,’ said Elizabeth Atkinson, director of the No Outsiders project that is being run by Sunderland and Exeter universities and the Institute of Education (IoE) in London. ‘My background is in children’s literature and I know how powerful it is in shaping social values and emotional development. What books do not say is as important as what they do.’ Atkinson argued that leaving images of gay relationships out of children’s books was ‘silencing a social message’, and could end up with children being bullied later in their school lives if they were gay or were perceived as gay. Atkinson and co-director Renee DePalma have received nearly £600,000 in funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and backing from the National Union of Teachers and General Teaching Council.

Waterstone’s last week alerted its chain of shops to the titles that include King & King, Asha’s Mums and Spacegirl Pukes and says it will start stocking them if the pilot is successful.

‘Lots of fairy tales are about princes and princesses – why not two princes?’ said Mark Jennett, who is training staff involved in the pilot from 14 schools and one local authority. ‘King & King is nothing to do with sex, it is about falling in love. Cinderella is not about sex – the problem comes not from kids but the nervousness of adults.’ Jennett who wrote Stand Up For Us, a government document on homophobia, said the work was ‘cutting edge’ and teachers were now more likely to challenge children if they used the word ‘gay’ in a negative way.

Critics say that the launch of the scheme shows that there is still a need for Section 28 type legislation. ‘The predictions of those who said the repeal of Section 28 would result in the active promotion of homosexuality in schools are coming true,’ said Simon Calvert, spokesman for the Christian Institute. ‘Let’s arrange a series of meetings around the country where parents of primary school children can look at these books. The majority would be aghast.’

Tahir Alam, education spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, agreed: ‘This is not consistent with Islamic teachings and from our point of view many parents would be concerned.’

Other parents felt that children aged four and five were too young for the books. ‘I don’t know of many younger primary school children who would really understand what homosexuality is,’ said Andy Hibberd, co-founder of the support group, the Parent Organisation, who has sons aged seven and nine. ‘I don’t have a problem with what happens between consenting adults, but I don’t believe it needs to be forced on young children.’