Controversy in schools in Wallonia and Brussels. A decree concerning a very specific course program was adopted in French-speaking Belgium, requiring sixth and second year students to attend education sessions on relational, emotional and sexual life (Evras). Since then, a movement against this 300 page guide written in inclusive writing was born. These include love and sexual pleasure, inclusiveness and mutual respect, puberty and transgender identity, pregnancy, masturbation and consent, and even sexually transmitted diseases, abortion and the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. . As reported Le Figaro Monday September 18, 2023, some 1,500 people gathered the day before near Brussels Central Station to demonstrate their opposition to this initiative, with signs on which was written: “Don’t touch our children”, “Our children are innocent”. According to the Belgian television channel RTBF, the demonstration notably brought together members of the Muslim community, but also Catholics as well as the child protection association Innocence in Danger. Even more serious, five schools in the Charleroi region have been targeted by fires since the start of the opposition.
The controversy surrounding the teaching of sexual practices
What does this program of sessions actually contain? 110,000 students are affected by compulsory education in Wallonia and to Brussels. Previously optional, these two-hour sex education sessions have been made a compulsory program and must be given once a year. In a document published in 2023 serving as a guide to this subject, teachers and psychologists were able to discover the themes to be addressed. In the program : “gender identity, gender expressions and sexual knowledge”THE “violence” but also “sexuality and sexual behavior”. This guide aims to “mark out all the themes that can be addressed in Evras according to the needs, acquired knowledge and psycho-affective and sexual development of the students”. Subjects which have been controversial and which some have even described as “ashamed”denouncing “the introduction of sexuality and pedophilia into schools”. In response to these attacks, the Belgian government pointed the finger at ultraconservative circles, notably fundamentalist Catholic (Civitas) and Islamic associations, accusing critics of fueling a disinformation campaign.