Young people stood in solidarity with the LGBT community after social media posts targeted an awareness week at their school.
Students at King Solomon High School, Forest Road, Barkingside, took to Facebook and Twitter after a post from an unhappy parent on Facebook received almost 500 responses.
The public post from a mother said it was “not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender week in my house” after her daughter brought home a rainbow badge from school – which the mother, a born-again Christian, branded an “abomination badge”.
She said: “We will be serving the Lord as usual and NOT promoting sin.
“You cannot force this filth on children,” she said after claiming the school was handing out detentions to those not wearing the badges.
A transgender student at the school, Arthur Lawrence, responded to the post saying: “I was incredibly moved to find out that this [week] was planned. I’ve spent a lot of my school life feeling like I can’t go to school because of who I am.”
On Twitter, @JacobWesty1 wrote: “Great to see KS standing up to prejudice. Go @kingsolomonhigh!!”
Another parent Ruth Landsman said she was “so pleased” that the school has been taking part in the awareness week.
“If one child goes home from school this week no longer considering taking their own life, [then] job done,” she said.
Responding to the post, deputy headteacher Sam Walters said it was the school’s duty to prepare students for life in the modern world but said students would not receive detentions for not wearing badges during the school’s first LGBT week.
“It’s fine to have your views but this is about making students aware of LGBT issues,” he added.
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