GREEN PARTY MINISTER Catherine Martin has welcomed plans by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) to investigate the use of the National Stadium by a Christian group last night.
The event, organised by a group called Christian Voice Ireland, was billed as an “SPHE information evening” for parents of school-going children and opposed the teaching of LGBTQ issues.
The IABA, which owns the purpose-built arena on the South Circular Road in Dublin, said it would investigate use of the stadium for the event, which it said did not reflect its views.
Commenting today, Martin – whose department holds the sports brief – welcomed the fact that the association had committed to more closely monitoring how the stadium was used.
“They weren’t aware of the exact use of it and I’m glad that they have said that they’d keep a much closer eye on their leasing arrangements,” she said in response to questions from The Journal.
“I think that is welcome.”
It comes after questions were raised by People Before Profit TD Mick Barry about the use of the stadium by Christian Voice Ireland and whether it conflicted with the IABA’s policy on inclusion.
The policy states that it welcomes “all members of all communities” regardless of their “gender identity or sexual orientation”.
According to its website, Christian Voice Ireland rejects same-sex marriage and the existence of transgender people.
“The Bible teaches that gender is unchangeable and that the expression of human sexuality is to be limited to the marital relationship of one man and one woman only,” it reads.
The event was the second organised by the group in recent months, on foot of a plans by the Government to modernise the SPHE curriculum, which would including a revised Relationships and Sexuality education section to teach pupils more about LGBTQ issues.
Aspects of the curriculum review were published by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) earlier this year.
One learning outcome includes giving students an opportunity to learn how to “appreciate the breadth of what constitutes human sexuality, and how sexual orientation and gender identity are experienced and expressed in diverse ways”.
It follows consultations with Leaving Cert students which found that many pupils found the old curriculum to be too focused on biology.
The NCAA states that parents are given a right to request that their child can opt out of any lessons that go against their conscience or beliefs.
However, speakers at the event suggested that they were still concerned about what would be taught to children under the syllabus.
One of those who spoke, Pastor John Ahern of the All Nations Church, warned in a video in the lead-up to the event that the syllabus would put children “in danger”, and that children are being “indoctrinated” and “sexualised” as a result of the lessons.
Another speaker, independent Senator Sharon Keoghan, raised similar questions about the content of the proposed syllabus.
“Children will be asked to make presentations and describe how they can be supported to trans identify as individuals, and how to give advice for how people can support those who are treated unfairly because of the way they express their gender,” she said in a video of the event posted online.
“In none of this content is it mentioned at all that this radical teaching is less than 30 years old, that the foundational ideology of it is a shockingly recent modern invention, the long-term impact of which can only be guessed at.”
- Contains reporting by Jane Matthews.
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