A Labour government would make sure children are taught about LGBT history and the significance of figures such as the mathematician Alan Turing as part of the school curriculum, Jeremy Corbyn has said.
The Labour leader made the promise at an awards dinner hosted by Pink News, where he also said the state should apologise to gay men such as Turing who were prosecuted for sexual acts that are no longer criminal.
In a speech, he said the state needed to intervene and provide education about the history of gay rights to help stop homophobia in society.
“I firmly believe the role of government is to challenge the environment where hate festers, and that begins with education. Because the more we know, the less we fear,” he said.
Corbyn pledged that the next Labour government would change the curriculum to “reflect LGBT figures and the fight for LGBT rights, so young people would understand how these rights are achieved”.
He pointed to the example of black history month, which has taught schoolchildren about the civil rights activist Rosa Parks and the South African politician Nelson Mandela.
“Imagine this embedded in the heart of school curriculum. Our children would be learning about the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing, whose contribution did so much to bring the second world war to an end.”
The Labour leader paid tribute to the contribution of David Cameron in legalising same-sex marriage after the former prime minister was given an “ally of the year” award by Pink News.
Asked separately by the Press Association whether he thought there should be a gay history month along the lines of black history month, Corbyn said: “There could be that, or there could be part of the core curriculum to understand the change in law, the way in which we have changed homosexual law from the illegality of homosexual acts until the 1960s, when the original homosexual law reform came in, then through to the period when same-sex marriage was agreed by parliament two years ago.
“I want it to become part of the norm of discussion in schools, so discussing it in literature, discussing it in history, so that we don’t treat it as separate.”
He said Oscar Wilde, the Victorian playwright and poet, and Turing were two figures whose lives could be taught in schools.
“To say: ‘Well, look, Oscar Wilde was a gay man, Oscar Wilde wrote great poetry, great literature, and suffered the most appalling treatment.’ As did Alan Turing, who was chemically castrated, which is unbelievable in this day and age,” he said.
“So bring forward those figures as the heroes they were of the time, and help to bring forward an atmosphere of people respecting each other’s sexuality.”
Asked whether the proposals could provoke criticism in some quarters, Corbyn said: “It might well, but then I do remember a time when there was great controversy over all kinds of legislation that has now become the norm in our lives.”
