Conference booking was cancelled after complaint by venue's LGBT staff

An education conference examining the problem of woke ideology was forced to relocate at the last minute after its booking was cancelled because the programme conflicted with the values of the venue's LGBT staff. 

The 'Education Not Indoctrination' conference was organised by campaign group Hands Up Scotland in association with the Academy of Ideas, The Christian Institute, Academics for Academic Freedom, Stand By Me (Scotland) and For Women Scotland.

A booking was made severnal months in advance at Civic House, run by Agile City, but a cancellation was emailed to the organisers just three days before the event was due to take place. 

The email from Agile City said, "The content of the event has just been highlighted to us via your online marketing, and through further research to be in opposition to the values held by our team and staff members who comprise part of the LGBTQ+ community.

"As such the staff who were booked to manage the event are not willing to work. Without staffing in place we cannot host your event."

The event was able to go ahead as planned after The Tron Church stepped in to host it. 

Dr Stuart Waiton, a leading sociologist and co-organiser, said, "You couldn't really make this up, but cancel culture has now firmly taken root in Glasgow.

"The whole point of this conference is to have a discussion about some of the dogmatic and ideological developments in schools, developments that clash with the idea of an open, liberal education for all.

"This attempt to cancel the event is illustrative of the dangerous and deeply intolerant times we live in, where any discussion or disagreement about issues like race and gender are silenced."

Conference co-organiser and lecturer Dr Penny Lewis said, "The values that Civic House and their staff clearly don't believe in are ones that support open debate in a democratic society. Staff are talking about 'feeling unsafe' but this is a straightforward attempt to cancel an important discussion about what is happening in education."

The aim of the conference was to discuss what organisers see as "the creeping politicisation" taking place in the Scottish education system and how to raise standards. 

Dr Lewis added, "The quality of Scottish education - primary, secondary and also higher education - appears to be declining and attainment gaps are widening.

"We need a public discussion on education to create an education system that is open and tolerant.

"Government and teachers should not be indoctrinating our kids with the latest political fads. Schools should strive for some sense of objectivity and provide our children with a range of differing views.

"Education in subject areas and history should help our children to develop a better understanding of their place in the world. A school should be a place of learning, not a platform from which government dictates political values or teachers preach 'activism'."

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