An Islamic charity in the UK was criticized for sharing a post on social media against the LGBTQIA+ community, urging followers to pray for protection against them.
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In a now-deleted post, the Facebook page of the Abu Bakr Trust condemned the LGBTQIA+ community, claiming they conduct “evil deeds.” The trust’s Facebook page also urged followers to pray for “protection against LGBTQ” and argued that homosexuality is part of a “fallen culture.”
“My Lord, save me and my family from what LGBTQ+ people do,” the trust’s post said.
This incident comes after the Office for Standards in Education in the UK, also called Ofsted, recently inspected the charity-run schools. The Abu Bakr Trust operated three schools and a nursery in the West Midlands region.
Although the trust’s schools are independent, they also receive funding from the government. One of the trust’s schools was deemed inadequate, but Ofsted praised a second one, saying it “clearly shows that fundamental British values are being actively promoted.”
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A report from the Telegraph claimed the charity’s staff used its social media pages to spread anti-LGBTQIA+ posts, raising major concerns and prompting the Charity Commission to launch a compliance case to investigate any failures of the trust to follow standards.
A spokesperson of the Department for Education commented: "Schools should be safe and welcoming places for all pupils and teachers. The Equality Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against individuals on the basis of protected characteristics, which include sexuality and sex, and we have issued guidance for schools to help them to comply with these duties.”
“Independent schools are also required to meet the independent school standards at all times, and where schools fail to meet the standards, they can be subject to further inspections and enforcement action.” the spokesperson added.
But the Abu Bakr Trust claimed the controversial anti-LGBTQIA+ post was created by a volunteer without any authorization and issued an apology for the Facebook post.
“The previous trustees had delegated some activities to volunteers as the charity has limited resources for staffing. Responsibility for social media was not created by the charity. Instead, community volunteers had taken the initiative to set up a Facebook page in 2011,” the spokesperson for the Islamic charity said.
“The posts in question were made by a volunteer with login details, but no staff or trustees approved them. We deleted the posts immediately and changed the login details and have now taken control of social media policy and will only post necessary information posts as previously,” the spokesperson explained.
“We apologize for any upset or offense this has caused and are already working with advisers and the Charity Commission to put in place an effective policy and controls,” the charity said.
In light of the controversy, many groups and individuals urged the government to investigate campaigns to remove LGBTQIA+ teaching in schools across the UK.
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“The efforts of hate preachers, activists, community organizations and even schools to oppose teaching on inclusion and equality in the UK should be a major concern for the Department for Education (DfE),” Charlotte Littlewood, a researcher from the foreign policy and national security think tank Henry Jackson Society, said.
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“This is a concerted effort to subvert British values and create a parallel moral value system that victimizes minorities. For the sake of a cohesive multiculturalist Britain, politicians and government bodies need to forward a muscular liberalism that is vocal in their support of schools in this difficult time,” she added.
Disclaimer: This article was previously published on Atheist Republic blog.