Gay author’s book ‘damaged school ethos’, claims church

AN ARCHDIOCESE is claiming it was “unacceptable” for one of its schools to host a gay author whose book contains a graphic parody of the Lord’s Prayer.

John Fisher School in Croydon, in south London, a Catholic boys’ secondary school, planned to welcome Simon James Green for a talk and book signing during LGBT History Month in February but the visit was cancelled by the Archdiocese of Southwark.

Among Mr Green’s books is Noah Can’t Even, which was listed as suitable for Year 8 and Year 9 students, in a letter sent out by the school that also said he would be speaking about “his books”.

It features a version of the “Our Father” prayer that references sexual acts and other content faith leaders claimed was “inappropriate for 12 to 13-year-olds”.

The Archdiocese of Southwark said in a statement: “For Christians, the Lord’s Prayer is something very precious. It is important to record again that sexual orientation is not, and never was, the reason for concern. It is the content of the material.”

“If a passage such as that above had been written from a heterosexual perspective, it would have been equally unacceptable.”

In the last two weeks, staff at the school, who are part of the National Education Union have gone on strike.

This prompted Mr Green to applaud their stand “against LGBTQ+ book censorship” on his Twitter page. “It’s not about me – it’s about the students, LGBT or not, who deserve and need to see their realities, and those of their peers, reflected in books,” he wrote.

A group of parents protested outside the school on Thursday amid disruption to lessons and exam preparation.

In a letter to the board of governors, the group also spoke of their “grave concerns that the well-established and successful Catholic ethos of the school is being deliberately undermined”.

The Archdiocese of Southwark and John Fisher School were contacted for comment.