Swinney admits drag queen visit to primary school was ‘wrong’

Education Secretary John Swinney has admitted it was wrong that a drag queen, called Flowjob, addressed primary school pupils about LGBT issues.

Mr Swinney said the artist “quite clearly” should not have been invited to the school and added it was up to SNP MP Mhairi Black to explain why she had defended the visit.

Ms Black, who was present when the drag artist was at Paisley’s Glencoats Primary, caused anger by claiming that parents who were concerned by the event were homophobic.

Mr Swinney distanced himself from his SNP colleague’s views, saying he would “let Mhairi Black explain her view on all of these issues” as other senior SNP figures lined up to criticise the drag queen’s presence in the primary school.

Parents were angered and Renfrewshire Council apologised after it emerged that the artist was brought into the school, despite having posted sexually explicit material on social media.

The drag artist read to young children during the visit, which was held to mark LGBT history month and explore the legacy of Section 28, the legislation that once banned the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools.

Mr Swinney said helping young people to understand LGBT issues was an “important element” of equipping them to understand the modern world as part of the health and well-being curriculum.

“But quite clearly... this was an invitation that should not have been issued given the background material that had been on the social media account of the individual concerned,” he added.

“I’ll let Mhairi Black explain her view on all of these issues. That is probably the safest place to leave it.”

Mr Swinney said it was “correct” Renfrewshire Council had apologised following the incident. But he declined to answer the question directly when asked if Ms Black should also say sorry.

But her claim that parents “were pretending to be livid” and her accusation that their “homophobia is transparent” caused anger.