Birmingham anti-LGBT school protesters had 'misinterpreted' teachings, judge says

High court rules that exclusion zone around Anderton Park primary will be permanent

Nazia Parveen
@NParveenG
Tue 26 Nov 2019 11.04 GMT
Last modified on Wed 27 Nov 2019 00.14 GMT

A high court judge has said activists protesting against LGBT equality lessons had “grossly misrepresented” what was being taught to children as he ruled that they would be permanently banned from demonstrating directly outside a Birmingham primary school.

Protesters went head to head with a local authority during a five-day hearing to stop demonstrations outside Anderton Park school. The school, in the Sparkhill area of the city, has become the focus of a long campaign to halt LGBT equality messages being taught in the classroom.

Most of the protesters have been of Muslim faith and some have stood regularly outside the school chanting “Let kids be kids” and carrying placards with the message: “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

Birmingham city council launched court action to prevent more protests outside the school after about 300 people gathered at the gates in May. The demonstration included a highly controversial speech by an imam who claimed anal sex, paedophilia and “transgenderism” were being taught in schools.

At the centre of the case was the school’s teaching and whether children were being taught inappropriate content on LGBT issues. The local authority maintained it was not seeking to curtail free speech but wanted to contain anti-social behaviour which had become a regular feature of protests and was having a “significant adverse impact” on pupils, teachers and the local community.

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