Pupils ‘may learn about gay marriage’

Measures introduced in 1996 require sex education lessons to include teaching about “the nature of marriage and its importance for family life”, and the emails suggest that teaching material may have to be rewritten to cover same-sex marriage if the law changes.

The Department for Education said that schools will continue to be under an obligation to avoid teaching anything which is “inappropriate” to a pupil’s age, religion or cultural background.

But the Campaign for Marriage claimed that schools could be forced to teach children about gay marriage against parents’ wishes.

The emails were obtained from the Home Office under freedom of information legislation by C4M, which is campaigning against gay marriage during the Government’s consultation on a possible change in the law to allow equal civil marriage.