Children Were Forced to Participate in a Pride Parade—Now the Ombudsman Is Taking Action Against the Preschool

Young children participated in a Pride parade without their guardians’ consent. Now, the Parliamentary Ombudsman has criticized the municipal preschool and ruled that the children must be considered to have been forced to participate in an expression of opinion.

A father took issue with his child participating in a Pride parade organized by a municipal preschool in Kalmar Municipality during the local Pride Week. He reported the incident to the Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) because he believed the preschool had involved the children in a political statement without giving their guardians the opportunity to express their views.

After a review, the results show OJ Now the father agrees with key aspects of the criticism and directs his criticism at the principal.

Ombudsman: The children were forced to participate

In its decision, the Parliamentary Ombudsman makes a clear distinction between the preschool’s mission to teach about democracy, human rights, and the equal value of all people, and allowing children to participate in activities that could be perceived as demonstrations or other forms of expression.

Chief Judicial Ombudsman Erik Nymansson Writing:

”In my opinion, preschools should therefore avoid organizing activities for the children that could be perceived as demonstrations or other forms of expression.”

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that the children were so young that they could not be considered to have formed their own opinion on the matter. At the same time, their participation did not require the consent of their guardians. Therefore, the agency’s conclusion is clear: ”the children may be considered to have been forced to participate”.

The preschool should have understood

The Parliamentary Ombudsman also believes that the preschool should have realized that parents and guardians might perceive the Pride parade as an expression of opinion in which the children had no opportunity to choose whether or not they wanted to participate.

”In my opinion, the preschool should have realized that parents might get the impression that the children were being forced to express an opinion.”, writes Nymansson.

In recent years, criticism of Pride has grown due to its strong political agenda and sexualizing elements. Among other things, the Sweden Democrats are barred from participating, while left-wing groups exploit the event to advance their agenda. There are also plenty of examples of children being exposed to overtly sexual elements, including nude participants and explicit references to sexual activities.