A CHESHIRE West and Chester councillor has explained her reasons for leading a protest outside an arts and crafts event at Chester Storyhouse.
Cllr Mandy Clare, for Reform and representing Winsford, followed her motion over Storyhouse’s funding at last week’s council meeting over a ‘Mini Pride’ event for children aged three to seven, with a protest.
Some supporters joined her at the city centre theatre and she said her reasons were because ‘children aged three to seven are too young to understand some of the concepts being imparted to them today’.
Cllr Clare said: “We’re not opposed to Pride – we just don’t think it’s appropriate for children aged three to seven-years-old to have a specific event.”
The councillor also criticised Curious Arts, the partner company delivering the event at Storyhouse.
She added: “It’s billed as an arts and crafts event but we think it’s more than that.
“We’ve looked at some of the content on Curious Arts’ website and it showed things they had held with children in previous events.
“They’ve removed those images now but we still have them and we’ve shared them with the public and we’ve got some on our placards today.
“Parents are being misled – they are being told it is an inclusive, fluffy event about arts and crafts when actually they’re imparting concepts on children that are harmful.
“For example, this organisation has run events where children are dressing up and walking up and down a rainbow catwalk, posing with their hands on their hips, carrying bisexual and pansexual flags.
“This event is being provided by a publicly-funded charity which excludes women who ask this question and our protected gender critical beliefs were excluded.
“They’re promoting with public money a political agenda that is hostile to other protected groups and potentially harmful to children.
“The question of whether parents think it is OK – if they’re not being honest with parents about what they’re providing and what their agenda is and the fact that is political with bi-sexual and pansexual flags."
Cllr Clare later went onto describe the company as activists.
She added: “I’m a local councillor and I’m speaking up and our views reflect the majority of this country.
“Curious Arts are working with Storyhouse because they are receptive to the agenda the company is pushing.
“We don’t want events like Mini Pride for three-to-seven-year-olds in a publicly-funded building to be normalised.
“It’s not normal and harmful to children.”
Curious Arts said the event has run successfully for five years and was well received by parents.
A spokesman said: “Curious Arts is a registered charity and abides by the charity commission regulations.
“We provide a range of events for different audiences. Our Mini Pride has successfully toured the country for over five years.
“The event consists of age appropriate crafts and storytelling for families, we are pleased it was so well received in Chester for a second year, with hundreds of attendees.
“Many were LGBT-parented families who shared their gratitude for an event that represents families like theirs.”
Annabel Turpin, chief executive officer at Storyhouse, said: “We were delighted to welcome more than 250 people who took part in our Mini Pride arts, crafts and storytelling today, as well as many more who visited the building to show their support for our LGBTQIA+ communities.
“The event went ahead as planned and we have already had wonderful feedback from people who came along.”
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