A Catholic school in County Durham has been the subject of controversy, after it was discovered they were displaying a sign calling homosexuality “disordered” and saying it should be “condemned.”
St Bede’s Catholic School, in Lanchester, defended the sign by saying it was part of a display and was “taken out of context.”
Students at the secondary school tore the sign down and shared pictures of it on Snapchat, where it was widely criticised.
The sign read “‘Homosexuality is a disordered behaviour that must be condemned’ (Vatican statement 30 July 2008)” and pictures of same-gender stick figures holding hands, crossed out.
The school administration said the sign was part of a revision display for Religious Studies class, showing a variety of religious beliefs that the students were supposed to learn about.
“In the centre of the display were the criteria for achieving the highest grade and an explanation regarding the context of the display,” Neville Harrison, headteacher of St. Bede’s, said.
“Regrettably, the posted resource had been removed from the display and therefore removed from its overall context.”
The display showed beliefs and quotes from other religions, including the Qur’an, the Methodist Church, the Old and New Testaments, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Related: Angry mother pulls daughter out of school because she learned what ‘gay’ means
The school says students were required to memorise quotes from different religious perspectives for their exam.
“This particular resource was displayed as a revision tool and as such was not created to cause any harm or ill-feeling,” Harrison said.
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