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    The Department For Education Tweeted It's "Nonsense" To Say Schools "Must Teach Gay Rights" And Everyone's Confused

    It's that tricky old issue of British values again...

    This tweet appears to relate to a story in today's Sunday Times.

    The story, titled "Faith schools ‘must teach gay rights’", begins:

    Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, is to take on Britain's faith schools by ordering them to teach pupils to be tolerant of other religions and respect lesbian, gay and transgender relationships.

    The schools have been warned that those that fail to follow new rules on British values will be judged inadequate and could face closure.

    Morgan, who changed her stance on same-sex marriage and began to support it three days ago, told the paper:

    Schools should broaden horizons not close minds . . . and should encourage pupils to respect other people even if they do not agree with them. I should have thought this is a principle with which the vast majority of people would agree. All schools of whatever type have a duty to protect young people and to ensure they leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

    These values — democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs — are not new. The requirement to 'actively promote' them is designed to reinforce the importance this government attaches to these values.

    But as a lot of people have pointed out, one would have thought LGBT rights were naturally part of British values.

    @educationgovuk Are you suggesting that gay rights aren't included within British values? If they are part of them, why not stipulate that?

    @TechnicallyRon @educationgovuk yeah, what exactly ARE British values, if not inclusive of pro-gay rights education?

    To be clear: You, the government, are saying that gay rights aren’t a British value? Try that again. @educationgovuk

    Are equal rights for gay people not a British value, @educationgovuk?

    BuzzFeed News has reached out to the Department for Education for clarification.

    The DfE has provided a statement:

    "It is complete nonsense to say that schools are being forced to 'teach gay rights' against their will. Ofsted are rightly ensuring that schools do not indoctrinate pupils about gay people – or any other people – being inferior. The same goes for schools that do things like make girls sit separately at the back of the class.

    Both are practices which go directly against the fundamental British values of tolerance and respect. We believe schools should prepare all pupils for life in modern Britain. A broad and balanced curriculum is vital for this."