THE Scottish Tories’ deputy chair has provoked anger with “Trumpian scaremongering” about the LGBT community.
Pam Gosal has also been fact-checked by a leading Scottish charity after she wrote to East Dunbartonshire Council questioning why young kids were being educated about LGBT people.
Posting her letter on Facebook, Gosal (below) said she was “deeply disturbed to find out that two primary schools in my region of East Dunbartonshire will be participating in an LGBT Youth Scotland pilot”.
“Not only is this not age-appropriate but also trans ideology, promoted by LGBT Youth Scotland, is deeply disturbing for young children,” she added.
However, LGBT Youth Scotland’s chief executive Dr Mhairi Crawford highlighted that the schools picked out by Gosal “are not part of any pilot project, but rather have separately applied to join a well-established charter scheme that has been running for over 15 years”.
Crawford said that LGBT Youth Scotland had, as part of the Scottish Government's guidance on Inclusive Education, “shared charter materials with senior leaders at these schools, enabling them to create a framework and provide age-appropriate materials to their pupils in line with the curriculum”.
She went on: "The LGBT Charter for Education is a crucial initiative that supports the Curriculum for Excellence and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, contributing to building a more inclusive and fairer Scotland.
“Our work ensures that young people feel valued, respected, and supported in their learning environments, helping to create safe and welcoming spaces for all students.”
In her letter, Gosal also raised child sexual abuse convictions against James Rennie and Andrew Easton. Rennie was the charity’s CEO for five years until 2008, while Easton co-authored a “coming out guide” for it in 2010.
She attempted to use these convictions to tar the charity, writing: “It comes as no surprise that many parents are concerned about LGBT Youth Scotland’s inclusion in our schools. Therefore, I urge East Dunbartonshire Council to reconsider this decision.”
Gosal's letter has proved divisive on social media, with some accusing the Tory MSP of alarmist rhetoric about children "being taught about the existence of queer people".
Others however thanked Gosal, with Scottish Tory councillor Gordon Lang adding on Facebook: "This should not be forced on children."
Launching a fierce defence of LGBT Youth Scotland’s work, Scottish Green equalities spokesperson Maggie Chapman (below) accused Gosal of “Trumpian anti-LGBT scaremongering”, saying she posed “categorically more of a risk to children than LGBT Youth Scotland’s project in primary schools”.
Chapman went on: “Prohibiting LGBT charities from educating or interacting with children only breeds intolerance, hatred, fear, and harm for those children who are struggling with their own identity or orientation and have nowhere safe to discuss these struggles.
“Ms Gosal claims to be all for inclusion and yet wishes to silence entire groups of people based on her own party’s transphobic agenda.
“This attitude towards children learning kindness and empathy for marginalised groups that they may find themselves, their families or friends as part of as they grow up reeks of a time warp back to Thatcher’s Section 28, which comes as no surprise when Ms Gosal’s colleague Tess White claimed LGBT Youth Scotland should be defunded on Debate Night last week.
“Perhaps an education around LGBT issues from a charity like this would serve well for the entire Tory party to learn some basic empathy for anyone outside of their own echo chamber.”
