London parent threatens to sue school for trying to 'indoctrinate' son with 'gay pride parade'
Mother claims event went 'against our Christian beliefs'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Christian parent has threatened her child's school with legal action after it organised a pride parade which she claimed promoted LGBT lifestyles.
Heavers Farm Primary School in London held a parade earlier this year in which encouraged children to celebrate “what makes them proud of themselves and their family”.
The primary school was forced to cancel family invites after a group of parents threatened to stage a protest.
Izoduwa Adhedo claimed the event went "against our Christian beliefs" and was an attempt at "indoctrination".
Christian Concern, a conservative group, is supporting her as she considers legal action.
Ms Adhedo, whose son attends the school, was due to meet school governors to make a formal complaint on Tuesday.
In a statement, she said: “After I complained about my young child being forced to take place in an event that goes against our Christian beliefs, the school’s attitude towards me changed completely. I know other parents who are afraid to speak up because of how the school has treated me.
“It was like being bullied. They stopped treating me like any other parent but were antagonistic towards me. I believe that they retaliated against me by unreasonably excluding me from the premises, victimising my child and not taking my safeguarding concerns seriously.
“I wasn’t even trying to stop the Pride event. I just wanted my child to receive an education, rather than indoctrination.”
Susan Papas, the headteacher at the school, told The Guardian: “Equality is a thread that goes through our curriculum. We’ve done projects on black history month, disability and women’s history.
“At the end of the year we decided to do something on anti-homophobia as part of Pride month, taking the idea that people and families can be different but everyone can be proud. There were some objections but they were outweighed by support.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments