Dame Louise Casey, the “integration czar” for the British government,
has stated that “it is not OK for Catholic schools to be homophobic and
anti-gay marriage.”Dame Louise, who is responsible for coordinating community integration, told Parliament that schools should “be on the front line” in working for equality and tolerance.
She indicated that she opposes exempting students from theater or music classes for religious reasons—presumably a reference to Islamic demands—and went on to say that Catholic schools should not be allowed to oppose homosexuality because “it is not how we bring children up in this country.”
“It is often veiled as religious conservatism, and I have a problem with the expression ‘religious conservatism’, because often it can be anti-equalities,” said the government official.
She said that people should be free to “live the lives that they want to live, but that they cannot condemn others for living differently.”