UK Govt’ to Impose “Hate Registers” for British Children who Make Gay Comments

By Hilary White

LONDON, March 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Britain’s “surveillance culture” is about to take a step forward with the introduction of “hate registers” for children who use anti-homosexual epithets in and out of school.

Late last year, Schools minister Vernon Coaker said that as of September 2010 all schools will be legally required to report all “hate incidents” no matter how small, and keep records on offending children. Serious cases were to be reported to local councils.

At the time, the homosexualist group Stonewall welcomed the “proposed duty for schools to record and report all incidents of homophobic bullying.”

“Schools will need support, confidence and training to identify and tackle homophobic bullying, as well as prevent it from happening, and we look forward to working through our Education Champions programme to help provide this.”

The plans include lessons for children on “transphobic” bullying as part of the upcoming sex-education bill.

It is now revealed that plans include a database of incidents to be kept by the local authorities and made available to ministers to inform future anti-bullying campaigns. These “hate registers” will include incidents involving children as young as five.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said, “Schools should take a common-sense approach to dealing with alleged racist or homophobic incidents by pupils.

“If a young child uses a slur, it should be judged whether or not they understand the meaning of the word and should be told why these words are hurtful as well as being appropriately disciplined.
If bullying is not dealt with in schools, then this will send a powerful message to children that discrimination is acceptable not only in schools but in society as a whole.”

But common sense has been notably lacking among British authorities in the application of “equalities” rules in recent years, and Christian and children’s rights groups are alarmed at the prospect of children being under constant scrutiny and threat.

The Daily Mail editorial comment page said, “Racism and homophobia are wrong. But these registers are a monstrous overreaction. They are a negation of common sense and a victory for the lunacy of political correctness.”

The Mail notes the case of one boy who has already been placed on such a registry for calling another pupil a “gay boy.” The mother of ten year-old Peter Drury, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was told that her son’s name would be placed on a register and permanent school record following a complaint about the comment by another student.

Penny Drury told the Daily Mail, “He doesn’t even understand about the birds and the bees, so how can he be homophobic?

“Peter is a very naive boy who didn’t know what he was doing and is now very upset as he is now in trouble. It doesn’t mean he is going to turn into a homophobic attacker when he is older. He must have picked up the word from somewhere and thought it to mean stupid.”

Michele Elliott of the children’s charity Kidscape told the Daily Express, “Children are being criminalized and singled out from a very early age when they don’t know what they’re doing.”