East London MPs have expressed concern after parents were encouraged to tell children that homosexuality is a sin which can be reversed through repentance. 

This paper revealed on Thursday (Feb 2) that the comments were made at a Chadwell Heath conference organised by Parents United, which opposes “promotion” of LGBT lifestyles in Redbridge schools.  

Speakers included Yusuf Patel, a former member of a “radical” Islamist group, who can be seen on YouTube saying that “homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle choice”. 

Mr Patel is founder of SREIslamic, a campaign group set up to “fight for Muslim parental rights”.

According to Parents United's website, he reportedly said children should be taught that “every behaviour is changeable” and they “must come back from sinful behaviour through TAWBA.”  

TAWBA means repentance.

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Another speaker was from ADF UK – an offshoot of US organisation Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has filed legal papers to try to keep homosexuality illegal in Texas and whose former president likened homosexuality to “evil”, saying it is “often intrinsically linked” to paedophilia. 

John Cryer MP (Labour, Leyton and Wanstead) described the views aired at the conference as “abhorrent”. 

Sam Tarry MP (Labour, Ilford South) had already written to Parents United on January 19, raising concerns about its link to ADF. 

“Are Parents United aware of this group’s history?” he asked. 

“I believe this could be extremely concerning to parents involved and indeed could be incredibly damaging publicly to the credibility of Parents United.” 

Parents United continued promoting ADF UK’s involvement online until its website went down for “maintenance”, after the Recorder emailed a list of questions to the group, which it did not answer. 

ADF UK said it is not answerable for its US arm’s actions and that it believed in “the inherent dignity of all people”. 

Mr Patel did not respond when asked whether he disputed Parents United’s report on his speech to the conference.

Julia Lopez MP (Conservative, Hornchurch and Upminster) said sex education “must remain free from ideology” and “teachers must be free to provide it without intimidation”. 

“Young people must be reassured that being gay is not something which a child should apologise for, nor is it an illness to be treated or cured,” she said. 

Jon Cruddas MP (Labour, Dagenham and Rainham) said: “LGBT awareness is now a requirement in the education system and bombarding schools with complaints isn’t going to resolve the problem.” 

But he urged schools to “work more proactively” with religious groups to “ensure that parents are consulted, informed and brought with on issues such as this, to help break down any stigma”. 

Other Havering and Redbridge MPs contacted – Andrew Rosindell (Conservative, Romford), Wes Streeting (Labour, Ilford North) and Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Chingford and Woodford Green) – did not comment. 

Nor did Michael Gove (secretary of state for communities), Gillian Keegan (secretary of state for education), or Robert Halfon and Nick Gibb (ministers of state for education).