Michael Gove: Pure Manhood

"The world tells people who have same-sex attractions that they have two options: either hide in the closet in fear or come out, embrace your identity, and sleep with whoever you want. Acknowledging your attractions but living a pure life isn't even proposed as a realistic choice, because the world assumes that sex equals love, and no one should have to live without love.
"A guy who has these attractions may not want them, or even know where they're coming from. Perhaps they stem from an unhealthy relationship with his father, an inability to relate to other guys, or even sexual abuse. Whatever the case may be, purity will help him understand the origin of his feelings.
"Every guy needs male approval as part of becoming a man. But in this need for masculine love, some guys may question their identity and try to find it in sex. But that will not satisfy their calling to make a total gift of themselves. The homosexual act is disordered, much like contraceptive sex between heterosexuals. Both acts are directed against God's natural purpose for sex -- babies and bonding.
"Even if a person does not believe in God, he cannot argue with nature. For example, the life expectancy of homosexual men is half that of heterosexual men. Furthermore, imagine what would happen if all people with same-sex attractions were placed in their own country. It would be empty in a century, because bodies of the same gender are not made to receive each other. Even if a man has same-sex attractions, his body is heterosexual. He was designed to give life..."

Pure Manhood: How To Become The Man God Wants You To Be by Jason Evert.
A booklet given out in some faith schools - which Michael Gove is fine and dandy with.

"The education provisions of the Equality Act 2010 which prohibit discrimination against individuals based on their protected characteristics (including their sexual orientation) do not extend to the content of the curriculum. Any materials used in sex and relationship education lessons, therefore, will not be subject to the discrimination provisions of the act."

So now you know.

Sex Education: True Faith

Christina Patterston offers a warning in The Independent today about the increasing encroachment of religion into British politics.
And how the relationship between Cameron's Conservative Coalition government and "faith groups" is becoming ever closer and cosier.
Patterson notes that eight of the 24 flagship "free schools" opening this week have a "faith ethos".
And of course how: "Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, is proposing an amendment to the Health Bill which will ensure that women planning abortions will get 'independent counselling. Since the Bill is designed to cut the abortion rate by a third, many people wonder just how "independent" that can be."
Perhaps most worrying of all, all seven of the "sex and education providers" asked to join the Sex And Relationships Council - a new government advisory group - are faith groups.
(Note to older readers "Sex And Relationships" is now the proper name for what we knew as "Sex Education lessons").
So this council advises the government on how sex and relationships is/are taught in schools.
Got that?
Shall we have a look who's on it?
Here are the seven founding members and what they stand for:
[All quotes taken direct from their websites]

Challenge Team UK - Legz Akimbo Theatre Company-types who tour schools promoting sexual abstinence before marriage through embarrassing plays. Covertly Christian. "Saving sex gives adolescents who may be confused about their sexuality time to mature before deciding whether they are 'gay' or 'straight'."

Evaluate - the educational outreach wing of CARE - "a well-established Christian charity providing resources and helping to bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy."
Pro-abstinence - Slightly obsessed with STDs.
Care evolved out of Mary Whitehouse's Festival Of Light who protested "the permissive society" eg TV filth and The Gays.

Family Education Trust - "supports the traditional family... It has no political or religious affiliations..."
Eh? They're a Conservative Christian fundamentalist group. Previously known as Family & Youth Concern; the FYC were a right-wing pressure group that played a key role in the homophobic scaremongering about schools that led to Section 28.

LIFE - the anti-abortion (and pro-abstinence) charity. Claims to be non-religious - actually Catholic.

Lovewise - "a charity which seeks to help schools and youth groups by providing presentations on the subjects of marriage, sex and relationships from a Christian perspective." "Wanting to warn young people to avoid the important medical consequences of sex outside marriage, they developed presentations that encourage them to consider the God-given design of marriage."

Right to Life - anti-abortion lobby group, also big on "defending the child’s right to a father." Catholic? Does the pope shit in the woods?

Silver Ring Thing - Ghastly American evangelical group that "promotes the message of abstinence until marriage centered in a relationship with Jesus Christ." Praise be!

So all are Christian "faith groups" (Explicit or not).
And all eight are pro-abstinence, anti-abortion and/or anti-gay.
Most claim to be politically unaffiliated, none are progressive, several belong on the right-wing lunatic fringe.
Must we fling this filth at our kids?

As Christine Patterson concludes; "Women have fought hard for the right not to have their bodies controlled by somebody else's God, and so have lesbians and gay men. It's beginning to look as though we might need to start fighting again."