No doubt you have already heard the allegations that a teacher at JFS showed students a website which claims that sexuality can be ‘cured’.

This story, ‘Jewish pupils taught how to ‘’cure gays’’, reported by the Jewish Chronicle on 19th January 2012, has triggered an outcry from members of the Jewish community, particularly former JFS students and social justice-focused organisations; as well as the broader community.  

The allegation - if true - is shocking.  This is particularly so when you consider the size, reputation for academic performance, and publicly-funded nature of the school.  

What happened in the JFS classroom?

According to the Jewish Chronicle article, a JFS teacher showed students in a lower sixth religious studies lesson a website from a group called Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), which promotes the notion that homosexuality can be ‘cured’ through hocus pocus non-scientific reparative therapy.  The article paraphrases the pupils and asserts that the website was presented as though it was the ‘authoritative statement of the Orthodox view.’  JFS denies this allegation, claiming that the website was presented as one of a range of viewpoints on the issue.

Some of the students are quoted in the article, and contradictions in their statements and the content of the article and its title make it ambiguous as to how the website was presented; for what purpose it was presented; and what, if any, damage was done to the young people in the classroom. 

Analysis

Irrespective of how the website was presented to the class, its content is clearly the kind of thing that homophobes and perpetrators of discrimination would seize on with glee.  What is more, it goes without saying that so-called ‘reparative/conversion’ therapy of the kind put forward by JONAH is discredited and unscientific.

So why then, was this information being presented to a classroom of impressionable students?  We all know how difficult it can be for young people to come to terms with their sexuality, particularly in the school environment where they may often face bullying and ridicule for something that is inherent and part and parcel of their identity.  

On the one hand, education is about expanding one’s way of thinking and exposing one to several different viewpoints.  On the other hand, where a viewpoint is potentially damaging to an audience; scientifically implausible; and learning about it does not seem to in any way further the students’ education, it seems obvious that it should not be presented or even alluded to.

We do not know what actually happened in the classroom and we should not jump to conclusions.  But we do know that on the face of it, referencing JONAH in a lesson to lower sixth students seems at best unwise and insensitive, and at worst, highly damaging.

Where does the law stand on this issue?

On 1 October 2010, the Equality Act 2010  (‘the Act’) replaced all existing equality legislation such as the Race Relations Act, Disability Discrimination Act and Sex Discrimination Act. The effect of the law in this context is that schools cannot unlawfully discriminate against pupils because of their sex, race, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation. Part 6 of the Act discusses Education specifically.

This Act applies to all maintained and independent schools in England and Wales, including Academies, and maintained and non-maintained special schools. In Scotland it applies to schools managed by education authorities, independent schools and schools receiving grants under section 73(c) or (d) of the Education (Scotland) Act. So it is irrelevant that JFS is a state-funded religious school, they are still covered by the requirements of the Act. Religious status is also not a valid excuse: ‘…Schools with a religious character, like all schools, have a responsibility for the welfare of the children in their care and to adhere to curriculum guidance.’* 

In other words, whatever Orthodox Judaism does or does not say about homosexuality , the fact that a school is Orthodox does not make it okay for it to in any way breach the Act. And the Act clearly states that it is unlawful for a school to discriminate against a pupil or prospective pupil by treating them less favourably because of their sexual orientation.

It is important to note however that the content of the school curriculum has never been caught by discrimination law, and this Act now states explicitly that it is excluded (section 89(1)). However, the way in which a school provides education – the delivery of the curriculum – is explicitly included under section 91(2).

‘Excluding the content of the curriculum ensures that schools are free to include a full range of issues, ideas and materials in their syllabus, and to expose pupils to thoughts and ideas of all kinds, however challenging or controversial, without fear of legal challenge based on a protected characteristic. But schools will need to ensure that the way in which issues are taught does not subject individual pupils to discrimination.’

Therefore, if the curriculum was delivered in a discriminatory way - and by this we mean either directly or indirectly discriminatory – then there is scope to find that the Act was breached.

In addition to the protection provided under the Equality Act 2010, there are also fundamental Human Rights that the UK has committed to. As a Member State of the Council of Europe, the UK is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Human Rights Act 1998, which came into effect in October 2000, enables all UK courts to protect the rights identified in the ECHR. This protection allows human rights issues to be raised domestically and processed by UK courts, and would offer an additional level of protection to discrimination were it to have taken place in this case.

As the facts come out, it will become clearer what actually happened in the JFS classroom and what its impact was. Regardless of the facts, it is fair to say that the classroom is not the space to be presenting viewpoints such as JONAH’s – it is insensitive, unscientific and entirely unnecessary.

By Kenneth Ooi

31/01/2012

*non statutory advice from the Department for Education. ‘ADVICE FOR SCHOOL LEADERS, SCHOOL STAFF, GOVERNING BODIES AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES’ (http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/e/equality%20act%20guidance%20december%202011.pdf)

Further readings:

Please click here to read the perspective of one of our Activist Enrichment Programme participants, Adam Davidi

Please click here to read Adam Wagner's article on Cartoon Kippah

Please click here to read the original Jewish Chronicle article that broke the story

Please click here to read more about our campaign to save the Human Rights Act

René Cassin is pleased to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

As an organisation that is actively involved in campaigning to end discrimination against the Gypsy and Traveller Communities, we welcome the statement made today by the European Union Agency For Fundamental Rights ('FRA'), which recognised that the Roma are the ethnic group most discriminated against in Europe.

The FRA said as follows:

"We, the signatories of this statement, believe that to combat racism and xenophobia proactively, States should ensure, inter alia, that:

• barriers to education, health care, housing, and employment are removed. Such policies should include the reintegration into mainstream schools of Roma children currently enrolled in special schools, and desegregation in the area of housing;
• adequate data are collected about the participation of vulnerable groups in these areas, in order to target policies better and to allow their impact to be assessed;
• legislation prohibiting racially motivated crime is introduced and enforced, along with training for law-enforcement officials in preventing and responding to these offences;
• measures are taken to address discrimination on other grounds in addition to ethnicity;
• national bodies responsible for the protection of human rights are mandated and adequately resourced to monitor the prevalence of racism and related intolerance and to take measures to promote equality, including advice and support for victims;
• measures are taken to increase awareness of rights and complaints mechanisms, in order to address low reporting levels;
  journalists are provided with training to challenge prejudice and stereotypes, in order to encourage informed and nuanced public debate; and
• educational programmes and awareness-raising campaigns are designed to challenge prejudice and stereotypes and strengthen a climate of mutual tolerance and intercultural dialogue.

Our institutions stand together to support and assist States in finding sustainable solutions at local, national, and European levels, through the provision of data, research findings, specialist advice, and coordinating support, on the basis of our complementary fields of expertise."
As a member of the Fundamental Rights Platform, which participates in contributions by civil society to the FRA,

René Cassin is pleased that this issue of ongoing discrimination and chronic exclusion is being highlighted, and we hope to work with the FRA to improve the situation for Gypsy and Traveller communities.

To learn more, please click here

As a current participant on the René Cassin Activist Enrichment Programme I am pleased that the organisation has clarified the legal implications behind so-called reparative/conversion “therapy’ such as JONAH being discussed in Britain’s Secondary Schools (Teaching a “cure’ to homosexuality: It’s outside the Law, René Cassin, 2012).  In the interest of disclosure, I think that at this point, I should state that I am a former JFS pupil. 

In case you missed the twitter storm and related JC coverage, concern has been raised regarding the way in which JONAH was supposedly referred to in a Jewish Studies lesson at JFS. Having not been present during this lesson, I shall refrain from commenting on the alleged incident.

One inevitable outcome of this controversy is that a spotlight has been shone on how LGBT issues and people are dealt with by faith schools. Sadly, one of the most recent studies exploring LGB experience in Britain’s Secondary Schools found that homophobic bullying is almost endemic, with 75% of respondents from faith schools suffering from homophobic bullying (The School Report, Stonewall, 2007).  The report makes for distressing reading and many of the respondents’ experiences mirror my school days.

During my time at JFS, LGBT issues simply did not exist. Whilst school assemblies tackled a spectrum of issues, LGBT concerns remained hidden. Unfortunately, within the more formal environment of the classroom, LBGT issues did not fare much better. During my History lessons, there was no mention of Stonewall or the Gay Rights Movement. Whilst my Sociology lessons looked in-depth at Gender theories, the topic of Sexuality was largely ignored. I believe that by making LGBT concerns invisible, homophobia is allowed to take root and flourish. 

For me, one of the consequences of growing up within an environment in which LGBT people were marginalised is that I began to reject involvement with organised Jewish activity. It is only in more recent years that I have become aware of, and engaged with, organisations such as René Cassin, which welcome and embrace the full rainbow of Anglo-Jewry. 

Not only have René Cassin and other organisations such as Limmud made LGBT rights and topics very visible, they have also shown me that far from having to be at odds with Judaism, Queer identity is reflected in Jewish culture and values, and my voice can contribute to the ongoing building of the Jewish community in the UK. I hope this is what JFS and other faith schools want for their pupils. They can start by respecting the rights of all and protecting LGBT young people – I just hope they move beyond simply avoiding doing harm and actively strive for positive inclusion. 

By Adam Davidi

(31/01/2012)

Article in the JC about our very own Simone Abel. Read here.

Help prevent the unjust deportation of playwright Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey.

Playwright Lydia Besong and husband Bernard Batey were persecuted, tortured and raped for their peaceful political activities in Cameroon and are now facing forced removal from the UK at 8.20am on Saturday, 21st January, 2012 following the refusal of their protection claim. The UK Border Agency has also refused them the right to appeal from within the UK.

There a number of steps you can take to help us stop the unjust deportation of a refugee couple who will be subjected to further persecution if they are forced to return to Cameroon.  

Please email, fax or call Air France to let them know they must not transport Lydia and Bernard on flight AF1481 from Heathrow at 8.20am on Saturday, 21st of January, 2012. 

Air France UK Office

Phone: 08455 19 15 23;

Email: mail.internet.afc@airfrance.fr

Please email or fax Theresa May, Home Secretary asking her to intervene and exercise her discretionary powers to stay the forced removal of Lydia and Bernard on Air France flight AF1481 from Heathrow at 8.20am on Saturday, 21st of January, 2012. Remember to quote Lydia and Bernard’s Home Office Reference No.: HOB1236372/3 in any correspondence.  

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office

Fax: 020 7035 4745

Emails: mayt@parliament.uk;  Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk;

UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk; CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Please email, call or fax Bernard’s MP David Nuttal (Bury North) asking him to directly approach Home Secretary Theresa May and ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal or Lydia and Bernard  on Air France flight AF1481 from Heathrow at 8.20am on Saturday, 21st of January, 2012. Remember to quote Lydia and Bernard’s Home Office Reference No.: HOB1236372/3 in any correspondence.  

David Nuttall (Bury North) MP

Phone: 0161 797 5007

Email: nuttallburynorth@aol.com; david.nuttall.mp@parliament.uk

Please CC any communication to admin@rapar.org.uk

Background

 Lydia Besong and Bernard Batey first sought asylum in the UK in 2006. They were both members of the SCNC (South Cameroon National Council) and as a result of their involvement were arrested and imprisoned on numerous occasions. Bernard was held for a week and beaten so badly he had to be taken to hospital for his injuries. Lydia suffered beatings, torture and rape at the hands of uniformed guards and carries the physical scars today. 

In December 2009 their first claim for asylum was rejected and Lydia was detained and threatened with deportation. Thanks to a widely publicised campaign, the High Court granted an injunction to stay the couple’s forced removal until new evidence had been examined. 

In July 2011 an Open Letter was sent to The Guardian and to Home Secretary Theresa May by many of the UK’s leading writers and actors drawing attention to Lydia’s case. People who signed this letter include War Horse author Michael Morpurgo, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali and leading lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy.

However on September 5, 2011 the UK Border Agency again attempted to deport the couple, putting Bernard in the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre with the intention of having him deported on the 10th of September. Thanks to the intervention of his lawyers, Bernard was granted a court injunction and released from detention on the 29th of September to file a new asylum claim. 

This new joint claim was entered in the 19th of October, 2011 and a decision to reject the claim was made on the 23rd of December, 2011. However Lydia and Bernard’s lawyers say neither they nor their clients were given any information as to the decision until the 10th of January, 2012 when Lydia was taken to the Yarl’s Wood and the UK Border Agency set 11 police officers on Bernard to escort him to Morton Hall. Once in custody they were handed a letter from the Home Office separately notifying them of the refusal of their protection claim. The argument put forward by the UK Border Agency was crude; essentially stating that the claim for asylum was rejected because they did not believe Lydia and Bernard’s involvement with the SCNC was enough to attract further persecution in Cameroon. 

They are currently still held in these respective detention centres, the date of deportation set for 08.20 am on the Saturday the 21st of January, 2012. Lydia who is a glaucoma sufferer has been unable to obtain prescribed medicine to manage her condition. 

In order to prevent this unjust deportation from occurring it is vital that we garner as much public support as possible and that supporters take advantage of the details listed above to contact Air France, the Home Secretary Theresa May, and Lydia and Bernard’s local MP David Nuttall to demand they take action. 

More details on the campaign can be found at: http://www.rapar.org.uk/lydia-and-bernard-must-stay.html AND AT http://lydiaandbernard.wordpress.com/

By Persis Eskander