Letter From France (About The Madness of Unbelief)

"Gender for All" and the Rights of Parents, Part I

The fight against gender stereotypes and parental rights: the case in France and other European countries

Dr Gregor Puppinck

Doctor in Law, Director of the European Centre for Law and Justice.

5^th April 2013.
Republished from Turtle Bay

French parents who wish to pass on certain values to their children will clash in the coming months over the Republic’s education system, which the current Government wishes to reform, particularly in relation to the complementary nature of men and women, of human sexuality and of morality.

The Taubira marriage law reform proposal should be considered in conjunction with another fundamental project of the current Government: the “reform of the education system of the Republic,” presently being discussed by the National Assembly.  This law project on the “reform of the education system of the Republic” pledges, among other provisions, to introduce an obligatory new secular morality and civic education, in order to fight against gender stereotypes from the youngest age possible.
  

 In the press and before the Assembly, the Minister of Education, Vincent Peillon, has specified that “the goal of the secular morality is to remove all family, ethnic, social and intellectual determinisms from the pupil”[1] to “allow each pupil to be liberated,” because “the goal of the Republican education system has always been to produce a free individual”[2].  In the same way, the Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira has declared to the Assembly that “in our values, education aims to relieve pupils of social and religious determinisms and make them free citizens”[3].

One of these determinisms would be gender identity; the removal of gender stereotypes is seen as a way of liberating children.  The project of the “reform of the education system of the Republic” provides at present that “education on gender equality” will become the mission of primary schools, from the age of 6, “in order to substitute categories such as sex (…) for the concept of gender which (…) shows that the differences between men and women are not founded by nature, but are historically constructed and socially reproduced”[4].

This idea is also articulated in the recent report of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs[5] which recommends that schools engage in the “fight against gender stereotypes” “from the youngest age,” that it dismantles “the ideology of the complementary nature” of men and women to “move towards an [equal] society.”  To this end, the report notably suggests that teachers replace the descriptors “boys” and “girls” with the neutral terms “friends” or “children,” to tell stories in which the children have two fathers or two mothers, etc.  This is, according to the report, to prevent “sexual differentiation” and the children internalising their sexual identity.

In addition to these aspects which relate to the theory of gender, the secular morality promoted by the project of the “reform of the education system of the Republic” is also a source of concern.  This law project envisages societal reform through education; it is complementary to the Taubira proposal which “reforms” family through marriage.  As Mr Peillon has indicated, “the Government is pressing young people to change their attitudes, notably by means of an education which respects the diversity of sexual orientation”[6].

So, if the Taubira law on “marriage” is adopted, public education should not only “dismantle gender stereotypes” in the minds of children, but furthermore teach them that it is normal to have two mothers (and an unknown father), or two fathers (and a carrier mother).  These “parental arrangements” will be taught as if they are objective facts (and not choices) and will therefore not be susceptible to any moral judgement.

Parents who wish to pass on natural morality to their children will be trapped: they should tell their children not to believe what they are taught at school, but to remain silent so they will avoid getting into trouble.  This will be an evident violation of the parents’ natural rights.  The projects and declarations of Ms Taubira and Mr Peillon also unambiguously show their intention not to respect the rights of parents, but to extract the children (from their parents’ views) to liberate them.

These parental rights have been reaffirmed in the great declarations of human rights after the Second World War, in response to Nazi, Fascist and Communist totalitarianism.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State” (Article 16(3)) and that “parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children” (Article 26(3)).  In ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the contracting States have engaged “to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions” (Article 18(4)).  In an even more explicit fashion, the European Convention on Human Rights makes clear that “in the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions” (First Additional Protocol, Article 2).

Currently, the rights of the family are under attack once again in the name of a project for society; no longer founded on family, but on the notions of tolerance, non-discrimination and pluralism, and which considers any man as a purely abstract individual.  The power of the State has found itself newly extended, as the objective of putting a “project for society” into action firstly requires the power to define it and the right to impose it.

[Part II will focus upon similar moves in other European countries, and the responses that have occurred.]  

[1] See LEXPRESS.fr, of 02/09/2012, Vincent Peillon pour l’enseignement de la “morale laïque” [Vincent Peillon for the teaching of a “secular morality”].

[2] National Assembly, compte-rendu intégral de la deuxième séance du jeudi 14 mars 2013 [Integral Report of the second session of Thursday 14^th March 2013].

[3] National Assembly, 3^rd February 2013.  Integral Report of the second session of Sunday 3^rd February 2013 reports a slightly different formulation to that which had been largely reported in the media and that we reproduced.

[4] Commission of Cultural Affairs of the National Assembly, 28^th February 2013.  Oral presentation of the amendment by its author, Ms Julie Sommaruga, Member of Parliament.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy2pjv_amendement-introduisant-la-theorie-du-genre-a-l-ecole-elementaire_news#.UV6b5JO-18E.

[5] Inspection générale des affaires sociales [General Inspectorate of Social Affairs], GRESY Brigitte, GEORGES Philippe, Rapport sur l’égalité entre les filles et les garçons dans les modes d’accueil de la petite enfance [Report on equality between girls and boys through its introduction during infancy], December 2012.

[6] Letter of Vincent Peillon, Minister of Education, to Education Officers, dated 4th January 2013.