The leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron has said that schools should teach children that homosexuality is normal and that homosexual civil partnerships have as much value as marriage.
Speaking at a recent meeting with party activists on 25 January 2010, Mr Cameron said that equal treatment for homosexual people should be ‘embedded’ in the country’s school teaching.
The remarks of Mr Cameron follow the statement of Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, who said two weeks ago that children attending faith schools should be taught that homosexuality is ‘normal and harmless’ and criticised the Tories on homosexual equality.
At the meeting, Mr Cameron was asked a question from Stonewall, UK's leading homosexual lobby group, about the Conservative Party’s policy on education of children in schools and whether he agreed with the comments from Nick Clegg.
He said that the style and content of sex education should not be ‘dictated from on high in Whitehall or Westminster’ and went on saying that he believes all children should be taught to treat people in the same way regardless of their sexual orientation.
‘We do need good sex and relationship education. That education should teach people about equality, that we treat people the same whether they are gay or straight. I think that is really important that we embed that in the ethos of our education,’ he said.
‘Should we teach children about relationships? Yes we should.
‘Should we teach them about the importance of equality, whether you’re heterosexual or homosexual? Yes we should.
‘Should we teach them about civil partnerships being a way of same-sex couples showing commitment just as married couples show commitment? Yes we should,’ Mr Cameron added.
He has indicated that his pledge to recognise marriage in the tax system will also apply to civil partnerships.
Earlier this month, speaking at a Demos conference, which addressed the issues of supporting parents and families, Mr Cameron said homosexual civil partnerships were like ‘marriage’ and said that marriage is all about ‘commitment’.
‘I think it is essential to say loudly and proudly that commitment is a core value of a responsible society and that's why we will recognise marriage, whether between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and another man, in the tax system,’ he said.
(Click here to read the speech in full)
Melanie Phillips, a columnist and author, wrote in Spectator Magazine that Mr Cameron is right to stress the importance of marriage, but it is not only about commitment.
'Commitment is only part of it. We may be deeply committed to our friends, to our brothers and sisters, to our employers. We are not married to them.
‘Marriage is the solemn and binding union of the two people who come together to create the next generation. That is why it is afforded such unique respect as a unique institution which plays a unique role for society in safeguarding the upbringing of children. That is why the ‘commitment’ of man to man or woman to woman is not in the same category at all. To treat it as such is to denigrate and further undermine marriage. It shows a total failure to grasp just what marriage actually is.’