Apology after drag queen visit to Paisley primary school
- Published
A local authority has apologised after a drag queen appeared at an LGBT event in a primary school.
Renfrewshire Council said it was investigating after concerns were raised about the sexual content of social media posts by FlowJob.
But local MP Mhairi Black, who also took part in the LGBT history month event at Glencoats Primary in Paisley, has defended it as "a great day".
The council said it was "sorry for the concern this has caused".
In a Twitter post, external, Ms Black said: "I completely applaud @PS_Glencoats for putting on such a great day, and I'm so grateful to have been invited along."
In another post, she added: "If my school had invited a gay MP and a drag queen to visit during LGBT History Month, or even acknowledged that LGBT History Month existed, it would have made an immeasurable difference to the difficult childhoods my LGBT classmates and I had."
Mhairi Black said events like the one at Glencoats Primary would have made an "immeasurable difference" when she was growing up
A spokeswoman for the local authority said that learning about equalities and diversity has an important role in the school curriculum.
"All school visits are arranged and managed with the wellbeing of pupils first and foremost," she added.
"However it is clear in this case, the social media content associated with the speaker's stage persona is not appropriate for children and had we been aware of this, the visit would not have been arranged.
"We are sorry for the concern this has caused and are investigating."
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In a reply to online criticism, the Twitter account @flowjobqueen posted: "As the drag queen who read the story to the children it was amazing to see what the kids have learned, we live in a time where kids will be going to school with 2 mums/dads or LGBTQ+ family, we are showing them that it's normal."
The website for the UK LGBT+ History Month, external says it is "supporting a very exciting, informative and celebratory month, to educate out prejudice and make LGBT+ people visible in all their rich diversity".
The event at Glencoats Primary has been defended by the organisation LGBT Youth Scotland.
It said: "We're horrified to see the abusive messages and tweets targeting Glencoats Primary School for their bold and brilliant LGBT inclusive education practices.
"We are proud to work with their pioneering headteacher, and recognise the school as an example to others across the country."