Two weeks ago, during a visit to Christ the King College, former Isle of Wight MP, Andrew Turner, told a class of sixth form students that he believed being gay was “wrong” and “dangerous to society”
As has been well-reported, there was national outcry and just a few hours later, he took the decision to stand down.
Youth MP: Principal’s comments “wholly inappropriate”
The school’s Principal, Mrs Pat Goodhead, sent out a letter to all parents a week later (5th May) commenting on the incident (see below). That has, this week, been condemned by the Isle of Wight Member of Youth Parliament, Joe Davies as being “wholly inappropriate”.
Joe Davies told OnTheWight,
“Mrs Goodhead’s comments are wholly inappropriate. As Christ the King’s headteacher, she should be publicly standing proud of her brave students who stood up to Turner’s homophobia.
“Labelling our LGBTQ+ community ‘dangerous to society’ is not ‘personal’ or ‘honest’, it’s wrong, simple as that.
“I look forward to Mrs Goodhead clarifying her remarks and commending Esther Poucher for blowing the whistle on Turner’s comments.”
CP ‘Ambush’ headline “terrible”
OnTheWight also spoke to Esther Poucher, the politics student from Christ the King College who was so appalled by what Andrew Turner said to the class, that she felt compelled to leave the room.
After the intense media interest in the incident, things have calmed down for Esther, although it was surprising to hear that someone had anonymously sent her – via the college – 15 pages of printouts of “why homosexuality is wrong”.
Esther told OnTheWight she thought the ‘ambush’ headline used on the letters page of last week’s County Press was “terrible”, but that it did make her laugh.
It’s of note that this week the CP have published her response to their coverage and the full page of letters from readers they ran last week which seemingly condoned Mr Turner’s words. This week letters of support for Esther are far greater in number than those that supported Mr Turner.
Lack of LGBT+ support “disappointing”
When OnTheWight asked how she felt about Mrs Goodhead’s letter to parents, Esther said,
“I know they have to be apolitical and whilst I do think it’s not as good as it should have been, I can understand where they’re coming from.
“However, I do wish the school could have said they are supportive of the LGBT community. Without having said that, it look as though they are not and that they’re condoning his [Andrew Turner’s] actions.
“It is disappointing.”
Fighting for the right to just exist
Esther’s general point with this issue [acceptance of LGBT+] is that it shouldn’t need any more discussion,
“It should just be a given. It’s really frustrating that we constantly have to keep fighting for the right to just exist. It’s completely backwards.
“Homophobia is not an opinion as far as I am concerned. I do completely support freedom of speech 100%, but when it’s trying to say that somebody else doesn’t have a right to life, when it’s degrading them as a human being, I’m not willing to listen to it.
“That’s not freedom of speech, that’s preaching hate and I don’t think it’s OK.
“If Andrew Turner had something that was racist, people would not be saying that’s freedom of speech, but because it’s based on sexuality it’s OK for him?”
Extract from the Principal’s Message to Parents
Pat Godhead’s message to parents read,
The class of A Level Politics students, together with three of their teachers, had prepared a wide range of questions that had been tailored around the examination requirements and to support their revision.
The sixth question asked was whether Mr Turner had any involvement in the Gay Pride rally event being held for the first time on the Isle of Wight. Andrew Turner gave an honest, personal response in which he said he would not be involved and shared his reasons.
Later on in the session, when another student returned to this issue to seek clarification, Mr Turner confirmed that his views were based on his own personal, religious beliefs.
There was a vast array of questions and issues raised on many potentially contentious issues (eg abortion, fox-hunting, Brexit, the NHS) in addition to questions on the complex role of being a parliamentarian, all of which were addressed by Andrew Turner with honesty and sincerity.
Andrew Turner provided our students with a helpful insight into the world of politics which was the objective of his visit.
Image: nevillewootton under CC BY 2.0
