Sandi Toksvig says LGBTQ+ education protesters assume being gay is 'a terrible thing'

Sandi Toksvig, host of The Great British Bake Off, has spoken out against the anti-LGBTQ+ education protests at Birmingham schools in recent months, claiming they show how “fragile” progress can be.

The 61-year-old comedian, who married wife Debbie in 2014, said protesters assume “being gay would be a terrible thing”.

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Parents and campaigners have staged protests at Anderton Park Primary school in Birmingham for the last seven weeks.

The demonstrations focus on lessons that begin to teach primary school children about same sex relationships, which many of the protesters state is in contradiction of their religious beliefs.

Toksvig, who has two daughters and a son, has been a prominent figure in the LGBTQ+ community since coming out in 1994.

She told Metro: “For a long time it felt like we were making progress, but watching politicians this month debate whether children should be taught about LGBTQ+ relationships shows just how fragile progress is.

“The logic that it might encourage children to be gay makes no sense.

“I never opted a single one of my children out of mathematics, and yet they are all thoroughly useless at it.

“It also assumes that being gay would be a terrible thing.”

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The row around LGBTQ+ education in schools has been addressed by senior political figures, including Conservative Party leadership hopefuls Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey.

Toksvig has hosted QI since replacing Stephen Fry in 2016 and has hosted The Great British Bake Off alongside comedian Noel Fielding since it moved to Channel 4 in 2017.

She joined a civil partnership with her psychotherapist wife in 2007 and converted their union into a marriage when it became legal for same-sex couples to wed in 2014.

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Toksvig is also a co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party, which formed in 2015.

She is set to embark on a one-woman show at Hackney Empire from 17 June, with proceeds to be donated to the party.

“Whenever we stand, we win because we get more women into politics,” she said.

“We push women’s equality to the top of the agenda, and we encourage the other parties to nick our fantastic policies in order to win back votes. It’s a no-brainer really.”