Ignorance, prejudice and Wilson Chowdhry

This evening has witnessed a rather bizarre string of events in Redbridge, involving the former Green parliamentary and local government candidate Wilson Chowdhry. At 18:16 on 3rd of March, he published a sensationalist blogpost on the Seven Kings and Chadwell Green Party blog he administers entitled ‘Gay message to be taught to 4 year olds!’.

Referring to a Daily Mail article complaining about a Government funded scheme designed to help tackle the scourge of homophobic bullying in schools and wider society, Mr Chowdhry went on to a wider diatribe claiming that the move will lead to ‘a lost generation of young people confused with their sexuality’; that homosexuality is caused by ‘nurture’ and not nature; and that homosexuality is ‘abhorrent’ in the eyes of God.

As a gay Christian, I suspect I have a little more understanding of the theological dilemmas and questions around human sexuality than many other gay people. Christianity is not the only religion that regards homosexuality as sinful. Islam and Judaism do too. As with all theological discussions, they are open to interpretation, debate and – ultimately – the question of faith. Mr Chowdhry takes a hardline view on sexuality in the Bible; I wonder if he will be so forthright in defending slavery - as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7? Perhaps he will head over to Goodmayes Tesco this Sunday and put the staff to death for working on the Sabbath as it says in Exodus 35:2?

My problem with Mr Chowdhry’s blog, which mysteriously disappeared after attention was drawn to it by Chadwell Lib Dem activist Jesse Boucher, are as follows:

1. His blog post refers to his views and the views of his church, but it is posted on the local Green Party’s blog. I know many Green Party members who will be appalled by the content of his article and I know the Green Party itself does not subscribe to the views set out in Mr Chowdhry’s blog post, having supported lots of Labour’s equalities legislation for LGBT people over the past 13 years and pressing for further action in other areas. He was their parliamentary candidate in Ilford South in 2010 and has been a council candidate twice in 2010. The Green Party should consider whether he is a suitable representative for their party at a local level and I hope Caroline Lucas will take note of this incident and consider what action can be taken since he risks bringing their party into disrepute.

2. His views present a real risk to the welfare of pupils. His assertion that homosexuality is caused by nurture is not supported by any scientific evidence and I think I have somewhat more experience in this area than he does. It is deeply offensive to suggest generations of young people risk being lost to confusion about their sexuality while thousands of children every year are harmed physically and psychologically by homophobic bullying and hatred. Research conducted by Stonewall found that 2 in 5 PRIMARY school teachers had encountered homophobia in their classrooms. Almost two thirds of young lesbian, gay or bisexual pupils have experienced direct bullying and a staggering 97% hear homophobic remarks – 7 in 10 hear them on a frequent basis. Only be promoting understanding, respect and inclusion can we create an environment safe for all.

It is not for me to tell Mr Chowdhry what he can and can’t believe. But just as the state can’t tell people what to believe, it is not for the state to enforce the doctrinal basis of one denomination or religious viewpoint on anybody else. I will applaud this Government whenever they take action to tackle homophobia and promote respect and equality for all.  

That Mr Chowdhry has now hidden the Green blog from public sight may suggest that he is rightly embarrassed by his post. I rather suspect that he’s simply trying to avoid personal public scrutiny. I have reproduced his blogpost below in full, which I managed to copy before he hid his blog.

This is not a party political attack on the Green Party, but it is an attack on an individual whose harmful policy agenda and apparent indifference to the suffering experienced by too many school pupils presents a real risk to LGBT young people. He is unfit for elected office; we should be grateful that he is a serial loser.

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Gay message to be taught to 4 year olds!

The Daily Mail recently reported on a new Government scheme that will see young children subjected to homosexual messages and imagery. Read more by clicking the link below:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349816/School-children-taught-homosexuality-celebrate-gay-community.html

The scheme has been widely condemned and wasteful and inapproriate and yet a £35,000 budget has been set, for creating the first set of study handbooks with the new subliminal messaging.

We as a church are concerned about this as we feel that such messages will make an already difficult learning process over complicated and inapproriate. We feel that the messages will confuse young people at an age before puberty and will result in a lost generation of young people confused with their sexuality.

Science has been used to try and prove the existence of a Gay gene and yet despite significant attempts, there has been no hard evidence to support the naive assumption. Physically God has created different structures for males and females that compliment each other and this natural fact is evident throughout living species. The Question that remains is a Homosexual relationship a consequence of nurture or nature? God quite clearly informs us in the Bible that homosexuality is a sin and on that basis we hold to the truth that is it is a consequence of nurture (the way a child as been brought up).

We believe God created Adam and Eve to compliment one another and that marriage betwen a man and woman is a sanctified relationship that is blessed by God.

None of the above implies that we should hate homosexual people, moreover God preaches love for all humanity. Nor should the church doors be closed to people that have practised homosexuality. However we are called to preach truth and the reality is that being gay is abhorrent to the eyes of God. As such a repentent homosexual that no longer practices will be welcomed to the church.

That Children are being taught sexual education as young as six is already a baffling concern, that we feel, can only create an unnecessary sexual awareness in children whose focus should be on play, maths and English.

This proposal flies in the face of convention and is an attack on the sanctity of a Christian marital relationship.

We will be praying for a reverse of this diabolical scheme to safeguard our future generations.

Please share your thoughts….

Posted by Wilson Chowdhry at 18:16

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