Meet the gay teacher hoping to transform a Muslim-majority school in UK

A gay teacher in the United Kingdom hopes to teach his students to respect people of different sexual orientations in a Muslim-majority school.

Andrew Moffat decided to take up the challenge of teaching Muslim students after he left his earlier teaching position because a Christian parent had raised an objection after he revealed to students that he was gay.

Moffat is now assistant head teacher at the award-winning school Parkfield Community school, where 98.9% of pupils are from Muslim families.



At his new school, he has introduced a ‘No Outsiders’ policy, promoting diversity at the 770-pupil school where 23 nationalities are represented. His policy includes welcoming people of any race, colour or religion and those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Surprisingly, Muslim parents at Parkfield did not have any complaints when Moffat revealed his own sexuality last month. In fact, they seem to have accepted that children can be taught about Britain’s anti-discrimination laws without undermining their religious beliefs. Moffat has taken extra care to keep the governing body and parents fully informed, inviting them in to see the books that would be used.

Speaking about his earlier experience, he said, “I knew I was letting down any pupil who might in years to come identify as LGBT and remember what had happened to me – if you ‘come out’ you risk a backlash and having to disappear. I was worried about that but in the end I decided that leaving was right for me and the school.”

“It was a very difficult time and I was quite damaged by the experience. However, it gave me the opportunity to pick myself up and start again, learning from mistakes. There was no point in going to an area where it would be an easy task. I had to go where I might meet the same challenges in order to find a different way to meet them. I was determined to make LGBT equality a reality in any community. I could not afford to get it wrong a second time,” he added.

Just last week, parents, collecting their children before taking them to madrasas, spoke of their support. “If they don’t learn about gay, lesbian and transgender people in society from school they will learn it from the outside world and they could hear things like ‘that’s disgusting’. I don’t want that,” said one parent.

“I agree,” another said. “I’d rather my children hear it at school. When they are at home, we teach them that in our culture gay is not allowed but we respect people who are different from us and hope they, too, will respect us and the boundaries of our religion.”



Another parent of a 10-year-old admitted her views differed from her husband’s. “My husband is a strict Muslim and my son asked him about the difference between what the school says and our religion. He did not give him a good reply. My reply was that God has created us and he is the only one who can judge us. I have told my son that it wouldn’t matter if he came home to me and said he was gay; you are my son and I will love you no matter what.”

Moffat is fully backed by Hazel Pulley, the head teacher, who said she had appointed him because she already knew of his work, in particular on improving pupil behaviour and on diversity. “I thought his approach was admirable. We already had similar work going on at school but we needed someone to lead it and give all the staff confidence,” she said.

Further she continued that it was possible to teach the law against discrimination in Britain without undermining any religious faith, “Everyone knows we respect Islam here. One parent asked if he could not contradict what the school said. I told him that whatever parents said in the home was their decision but it’s lovely that the children will hear both views.”

The Guardian sat in on a session with Class 5C, where their teacher, Amy Collins, was reinforcing the No Outsiders in Our School ethos through an illustrated book And Tango Makes Three. The children heard about two male penguins who wanted to be a family but couldn’t have a child. They mistake a stone for an egg and sit on it for days. The zookeeper feels sorry for them and gives them a real egg, which eventually, to their joy, hatches and they have their own baby to care for.

The children decide that “No Outsiders” means that, in the words of one girl, “There are no outsiders and everyone is equal, no matter what their religion or whether they are black or white or gay or lesbian. They are all welcome.”

Moffat has published a handbook about creating an ethos where everyone is welcome, regardless of differences: No Outsiders in Our School: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools.

This article originally appeared on Guardian.