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EDINBURGH, Scotland, September 16, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― A Catholic family advocacy group and a new Scottish political party have joined forces to protest sexually explicit teaching materials being used in Scotland’s schools.

Catholic Family Voices, co-founded by retired Glasgow schoolteacher Pauline Gallagher, and the Scottish Family Party, headed by Richard Lucas, rallied outside Scotland’s Holyrood Parliament on Friday afternoon to show their opposition to radical LGBT propaganda and age-inappropriate sexual themes in children’s education.

“From the very beginning of primary school, they’re presented with some LGBT political activist symbols,” Lucas told LifeSiteNews. 

“They’re to have lessons on lesbians, gays, bisexuals. They’re entirely inappropriate at that age,” he continued. 

“Children don’t understand really what sexuality is.”

Lucas said the real message behind LGBT lessons in schools is that it is a child’s duty to affirm adults in their sexual choices. 

“The message (of the lessons) is that children are expected ―  it is their duty ― to endorse the sexual choices of adults,” he said. 

A pamphlet produced by the Scottish Family Party reproduced some of the teaching materials being used in “Relationship, Sexual Health and Parenthood” (RSHP) classes in Scotland. They include graphic illustrations of genitalia for primary school students and the illustration and endorsement of several sexual activities, including bondage and watching pornography, for secondary students.

“Underage illegal sex is presented as a perfectly valid choice ― in fact, the pupils are taught that they have a ‘right’ to it,” the pamphlet states. 

The Scottish Family Party encourages parents to raise concerns with their children’s schools and ask to see what materials are being used. They direct concerned parents to the RSHP.scot lesson plans available online. 

While at Holyrood, Gallagher and her cousin, the co-founder of Catholic Family Voices and veteran nurse Liz Ansah, dropped off letters to Member of Scottish Parliament John Swinney. Swinney is both the Deputy First Minister of Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.  

In the letter, the women told Swinney that they are “deeply concerned about the impact of gender mainstreaming on our nation’s children and about the related threat to the democratic rights of religious freedom, freedom of conscience and free speech.” 

“It seems to us that there is a well-oiled propaganda machine driving public policy in many nations, including Scotland,” they continued.

“By means of emotive language and seemingly laudable aims, the media has galvanised public opinion. It is difficult to have beliefs or opinions which differ from the prevailing ‘orthodoxy’ as any dissent is labeled ‘homo/bi/transphobic.’ We do not believe that the best interests of schoolchildren are being served in this climate.” 

Gallagher told LifeSiteNews that she believes “freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience” are imperiled by government-backed sexual ideology and recalled that Scottish Parliament was recently compelled to consider legalizing incest.  

“Children are being groomed to accept such things as normal,” Gallagher said. 

Catholic Family Voices has produced a pamphlet challenging arguments for LGBT education in schools.  

“All schools in Scotland have been obliged by new legislation to include ‘Equality and Inclusion’ lessons because it is claimed that LGBT pupils experience a higher volume of bullying,” the organization wrote.  

“Yet the 2018 Annual Bullying Survey states that only 9 percent of young people say they are bullied because of their sexuality.”

They note also that even in communities where LGBT people have been supported by government and society for years, they are more likely to self-harm, abuse drugs and commit suicide than the rest of the general population. 

Catholic Family Voices is also gravely concerned about the 1,000% increase in young people, particularly girls, coming forward to say that they are not comfortable with their “gender.”

“Schools and parents are told to ‘affirm’ the growing number of pupils who identify as transgender,” they wrote. 

“Yet it is estimated by experts that only 1 in 70 thousand children experience genuine gender dysphoria and 90 percent of them will accept their biological gender if left to go through puberty naturally,” the pamphlet continues. 

“The opposite is true of children put on puberty blockers: 90 percent of them never return to their biological sex.” 

Fifteen people attended the rally, and everyone who wished to speak to the small crowd had a chance to have their say. 

Richard Lucas and members of Catholic Family Voices appeared in a BBC documentary in July reporting on parental objections to LGBT education in Birmingham and other British cities. At the time, Lucas told LifeSiteNews that the materials being used in English schools were comparatively mild with those being used in Scotland. 

Catholic schools are not exempt

Catholic schools in Scotland are by no means exempt from the LGBT lessons.

All Scottish state schools, primary and secondary, are now teaching a pro-homosexuality, pro-transsexual philosophy.

This is a result of 33 recommendations made by the Scottish government’s “LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group,” all of which have been accepted by the government. 

According to the government’s November 2018 press release, “Work to implement the recommendations will start immediately.” 

“Our education system must support everyone to reach their full potential,” Education Secretary Swinney said. “That is why it is vital the curriculum is as diverse as the young people who learn in our schools.”

The vast majority of Catholic schools in Scotland are now state-funded and state-controlled, thanks to the 1918 Education Act. This means that very few of Scotland’s Catholic children will be exempt from the LGBT agenda. 

A spokesman for the Scottish Catholic bishops indicated to LifeSiteNews that the bishops hoped for “positive” results from the government’s move, addressing the issue as if it really were about “bullying.”  

“The Catholic Church welcomes any recommendations that will help to ensure that pupils and school staff are properly equipped to challenge and eradicate prejudice-based bullying within schools and wider society in accordance with the law,” a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland told LifeSiteNews via email last November. 

“The Catholic Education Community have been working to identify professional development opportunities while finding ways to develop appropriate resources for schools which are in line with church teaching,” he continued. 

“We hope that the impact of these recommendations will be positive for all and that lessons learned from this process can be transferred to tackling similar issues associated with other areas of equalities and inclusion education,” he added.

The Roman Catholic Church has many doctrines in conflict with contemporary LGBT ideology. For example, she teaches that the sexual act is licit only within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. Because of this, she teaches that premarital sex (fornication) and extramarital sex (adultery) are grave sins. Moreover, she teaches that homosexual acts are acts of “grave depravity” since they are “contrary to the natural law” in that they “close the sexual act to the gift of life.”

Regarding the dignity of people who experience same-sex attractions, the Church is already clear that “unjust discrimination” is unacceptable. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition [CCC 2358].”

It should be noted that it is the inclination, not the person, that the Church teaches is “objectively disordered.” Meanwhile, like everyone else, people with same-sex attractions are called to a life of chastity according to their state in life. For those not married to a member of the opposite sex, this means refraining from sexual activity.

Correction Sept. 17, 2019, 10:22 AM EST: An earlier version of this report called Mrs. Gallagher “Maureen” whereas her name is “Pauline.” This has now been corrected.