SDLP attack on Sir Jeffrey Donaldson over ‘child safety’ event is horrific, says organiser

The event is run by a body called the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group, chaired by Sir Jeffrey.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood issued a hard-hitting statement saying the focus of the meeting was about “ideologues taking over relationship and sex education”.

The SDLP described Sir Jeffrey as the event’s organiser, and Mr Eastwood demanded that the DUP “clarify the motivation” behind the meeting given its “historical opposition to LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-plus) equality”.

He said: “Inclusive relationship and sex education is an important part of the curriculum. It should not be subject to the prejudices of anyone and should give representation to everyone.

“I sincerely hope this event is not designed to cause further damage to a community that’s been the subject of political attack for far too long.”

However the DUP responded that it neither organised the event, nor is it responsible for its content.

The woman who did organise it, Anglican minister Rev Lynda Rose, told the News Letter the gathering was to cover a range of child health concerns, from sexually transmitted diseases to the colossal rise in medical referrals of children who say they are transgender (a jump of roughly 4,500% in the last decade, Rev Rose said).

The group has been together since 1985 and meets three times a year.

It is set to convene at 5.30pm tonight in a Commons committee room.

Rev Rose (an outspoken anti-abortion campaigner) said it is not an official parliamentary group, and so does not need to be registered with Parliament.

At least 16 MPs are due to attend she said, adding: “The membership is very largely organisations, academics, professionals working in the field of family and child protection.

“We’re looking at a whole range of issues.

“[We are] holding a conference in March this year on problems with knife crime.

“We’re holding that in conjunction with Nottingham University.

“We’ve been very involved too in issues of internet security. We look at a very broad range of issues.”

She added that “it’s quite horrific Sir Jeffrey is being attacked in this way”, adding that the event is about “strictly child protection and safeguarding, and he is interested in that”.

In reporting on the row about tonight’s debate, the magazine PinkNews highlighted a passage of a blog Rev Rose had written in June 2019.

It read: “It is ironic that, in the past 50 years, a movement which initially campaigned for acceptance and release from constraint should have been transformed into one now attempting so vigorously to crush and suppress others.

“In a democracy, anyone should be free to express their honestly held beliefs and views without fear of attack... To hold otherwise is to follow the totalitarian dictates of Communism or Nazi Germany – as is the ideological demand that children only be taught LBGT values and behaviour, with the suppression of all else.”

Asked by the News Letter about the language of the blog post, Rev Rose said: “If you look at the context of that, I’m talking about silencing any dissenting opinions as very much a hallmark of totalitarian regimes, bodies, whatever – of which Nazism is an instance.

“Silencing free speech is very much a part of totalitarianism. But I was not saying LGBTs are Nazis.”