The Christian Institute today publishes a dossier on how local councils and health authorities are spending money promoting homosexuality.

In just three weeks researchers uncovered how £1 million of public money intended for social services, education and health care had been diverted into promoting gay rights. Bankrolling Gay Proselytism gives details of many of these schemes.

Colin Hart, Director of the Institute said today:
"Section 28 was introduced because some Councils were spending inordinate amounts of money promoting homosexuality in schools. For eleven years Section 28 has stopped local authorities promoting homosexuality in the classroom.

But now things are changing as many Councils believe the Section will soon be repealed. A number of local authorities are now appointing schools workers or youth workers to target children who "are unsure of their sexuality".

Our study finds that the usual qualifications are unnecessary for many of these posts. Being an "experienced" homosexual is however essential in many jobs. Tower Hamlets want to appoint ten youth workers to reach children as young as 9 years old who are "questioning their sexuality and/or gender". Only funding problems have so far preventing this going ahead.

Section 28 exempts all activities by local authorities which seek to prevent the spread of disease. Health Authorities are not covered at all. The evidence is that the legitimate exception for health promotion has been made into a massive loophole. Section 28 obviously needs extending to cover health authorities, and it needs enforcing to stop the health promotion exemption being exploited in this way.

We have found clear evidence that Councils and health authorities are encouraging young people to attend homosexual youth clubs and to experiment with homosexuality. One health authority video for pupils aged 13+ ends with a young person encouraging school children to "try experimenting with other boys and girls and see who you feel most comfortable with".

Some Councils and health authorities are running projects advising homosexual men about how to commit sexual acts in public (a criminal offence) and what to do if the police arrest them.

Some 70% of men believe that homosexual practice is wrong (1). I am sure that the public would be horrified to learn that their taxes are bankrolling gay proselytism. We tracked down £1 million of this sort of expenditure in just three weeks. Clearly it is just the tip of the iceberg. This money would be better spent on health and education.

It is essential that ordinary parents make their views known to the Prime Minister and to their MP before attempts are made to repeal Section 28. If this is what is going on now, I can't imagine what will happen if the Section 28 restraint is lifted."

Some examples of Councils and health authorities funding gay proselytism.
Avon Health Promotion Services encourages children as young as 13 to act out role plays in class where their roles include: "Married man who was 'done' for cottaging... S & M heterosexual woman....transvestite cabaret artist". [Cottaging is the slang term for homosexual activity in lavatories] The video Avon has produced for schools targets pupils "Questioning their sexuality" and seeks to develop "coming out" skills. It ends with one boy saying "try experimenting with other boys and girls and see who you feel most comfortable with".

Haringey Council's Outzone project seeks to provide homosexual youth workers to go into Haringey and Barnet schools. The project is funded by local health authorities.

Oxfordshire County Council funds homosexual youth workers to "build appropriate relationships" with young people "unsure of their sexual identity".

Making "homosexual families"
Leicester City Council funds a Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre which runs a regular "Lesbians making babies" workshop to teach the principles of self-insemination. The centre receives £35,385 from local authorities.

Councils and health authorities promoting breaches of the criminal law
It is a criminal offence to commit a homosexual act in public whether it be in a public lavatory ("cottage") or a public park ("cruising ground").

Yet Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham Health Authority have published a step by step internet guide to "making cruising more enjoyable" which provides advice on what to do if you are arrested.

Camden and Islington Health Promotion NHS Trust provide a fully searchable internet database to help homosexual men find gay saunas, "leather bars" and other places where they can break the law and engage in the very activities which most place their health at risk.

Gay Men Fighting Aids (GMFA) receives £466,400 from public funds. One of its projects is to run training courses to help homosexuals be "confident about cruising". Another was to produce a sex education video which was so pornographic that the British Board of Film Classification refused even to award a "Restricted 18 pornography" category. After cuts the video was classified not as a sex education video but as an 18 pornography certificate.

Work on health promotion has been taken to such an extreme that it is now common place for staff funded by health authorities to skulk around public lavatories and "cruising grounds" handing out condoms to homosexual men.

ENDS. For further information contact Colin Hart on 0191 281 5664

Bankrolling gay proselytism (ISBN 1 901086 06 2) is published on Thursday 11th November at £2.50 (inc p+p) and is available from The Christian Institute, 26 Jesmond Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4PQ

Note for Editors: The Christian Institute is a Christian policy research organisation which seeks to influence public policy from the perspective of historic Christian teaching.

(1)Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, Johnson A et al, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1994, page 475. This is the largest academic study of its kind ever carried out in the UK.