SCOTLAND’S Education Secretary has condemned a visit to a primary school by a drag queen called Flowjob.
John Swinney said the performer “quite clearly” should not have been invited to address pupils at Glencoats Primary in Paisley.
When Michelle Watson, the headteacher of the Paisley school posted a tweet thanking the drag act for coming into the school some parents raised concerns.
Flowjob was pictured alongside SNP MP Mhairi Black, who later took to social media to accuse concerned parents of “homophobia”.
If my school had invited a gay MP and a drag queen to visit during LGBT History Month, or even acknowledged that LGBT History Month existed, it would have made an immeasurable difference to the difficult childhoods my LGBT classmates and I had.
— Mhairi Black MP🏳️🌈 (@MhairiBlack) February 24, 2020
Swinney said an incorrect judgement had been made “and lessons have got to be learnt”, but shied away from directly criticising Black.
The deputy first minister said: “I think the whole question of enabling young people to understand LGBT issues is an important element of equipping young people to understand the modern world, and that’s an implicit part of the health and wellbeing element of the curriculum.
“But quite clearly this was an invitation that should not have been issued, given the background material that had been on the social media account of the individual concerned.
“I understand that Renfrewshire Council has apologised for that, and I think that’s the correct thing for them to have done.”
Asked what he thought of Black accusing online critics of homophobia, he said: “I think what’s important is I think parents have raised quite understandable concerns about this matter, which is why it was correct for Renfrewshire Council to express an apology about the fact that this invitation has been issued.
“The invitation was issued in good faith, because the school was trying to do something which I think is important, and that is to respond to pupil aspirations to understand more about LGBT issues, and I think that is an important hallmark of our society – that young people want to understand that.
“But, crucially, we have to be sensitive about the invitations that are issued to enable that to be done, and in this case that’s not been done, and Renfrewshire Council are therefore quite correct to have apologised for this.”
Swinney said his officials had spoken to the council.
Black and Flowjob visited the school as part of LGBTQ history month.
Flowjob – who was introduced to the children as “Flow” – read pupils a story in drag.
It later emerged the performer's social media profile contained sexually explicit material and Renfrewshire Council apologised for the “concern this has caused”.
READ MORE: Council apologises after drag act FlowJob visits Glencoats pupils
The SNP’s new spindoctor Murray Foote, a former Daily Record editor, earlier rowed back on a tweet about the row.
At 10.22pm last night, he wrote: “I could be wrong but do thousands of parents not voluntarily take their primary age kids along to see drag acts in pantomime every Christmas?”
Nine hours later, after a wave of online criticism, Foote issued a clarification.
He wrote: “In hindsight, this tweet lacked the necessary qualification around some of the legitimate parental concerns about social media posts.
“I was attempting to make too broad a point.”
In hindsight this tweet lacked the necessary qualification around some of the legitimate parental concerns about social media posts. I was attempting to make too broad a point.
— Murray Foote (@murrayf00te) February 25, 2020
Yesterday, Black tweeted: “You just know that the people pretending to be livid that a drag queen read a book in a school in my mentions [right now] are also the people who run out to buy their kids the latest Grand Theft Auto on release day. Your homophobia is transparent.”
You just know that the people pretending to be livid that a drag queen read a book in a school in my mentions rn are also the people who run out to buy their kids the latest Grand Theft Auto on release day. Your homophobia is transparent.
— Mhairi Black MP🏳️🌈 (@MhairiBlack) February 24, 2020
A spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said: "The school pupils at Glencoats Primary are currently organising a series of activities and events to mark LGBT history month.
"In discussion with pupils in their Rainbow club, one of their requests was to invite people from the LGBT community to hear about their own experiences growing up and they wanted to invite a drag queen to talk to this group to hear about their own personal experience.
"Learning about values including equalities and diversity has an important role in the school curriculum.
"All school visits are arranged and managed with the wellbeing of pupils first and foremost however it is clear in this case, the social media content associated with the speaker's stage persona is not appropriate for the children and had we been aware of this, the visit would not have been arranged.
"We are sorry for the concern this has caused and are investigating."
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