Preschool Organized Pride Parade – Criticized by Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman

A municipal preschool in Kalmar organized a theme week about Pride. This included, among other things, an activity in the preschool’s playground described as a Pride parade in which the children were forced to participate. The preschool’s actions are now being criticized by the Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO), who considers that it violated the constitution.

Following the preschool’s actions, a parent of a child who was forced to participate filed a complaint with the Ombudsman. In his complaint, the father of a five-year-old wrote that the Pride parade with flag-waving should be considered a political demonstration. His son participated even though the father had made it clear that he did not think it was appropriate for preschool children to be involved in politics at preschool and that he wanted them to stop.

At the same time, the father noted that if the preschool had chosen to partially respect this and excluded his son from the parade, it would also have meant social exclusion and indirectly a punishment for his son, since it was all presented as a fun activity. Thus, participation was not voluntary.

The father also stated that Pride is a political movement that takes positions on political issues, and that children lack the necessary cognitive capacity to navigate these complex questions; therefore, they should not be drawn into political movements during their time in preschool.

In a statement from the preschool’s principal, reference was made to the institution’s core value work, which permeates the daily activities in different ways depending on the children’s ages.

In response to the complaint to the Ombudsman, the principal said the preschool could have handled the whole situation more clearly. In the ongoing work, therefore, the purpose of why the preschool chooses to observe Pride will be clarified: “That all people have the right to be who they are, and that everyone is different and that different is good.” Furthermore, information about the design of the various activities and their purpose will be clarified.

Forced participation

Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman Erik Nymansson notes that children in preschool should receive teaching on fundamental values such as those focused on during the theme week, but he questions whether the activity mentioned was consistent with the constitutional prohibition against public authorities forcing anyone to participate in a gathering for opinion-forming, or in a demonstration or other expression of opinion (Chapter 2, Section 2 of the Swedish Instrument of Government).

Nymansson argues that the children were not of an age where they could be expected to have any real opinion on the issues the preschool focused on during the week. Whether or not they chose to participate in the activity is thus not decisive for the question of whether they should be considered to have been forced to participate.

Since the participation of the children was also not made dependent on the consent of the guardians, and it is conceivable that guardians were reluctant to stand out by refusing to let their children participate, the Chief Ombudsman considers that the children must be deemed to have been forced to take part.

Furthermore, Nymansson notes that the preschool did not provide any information to guardians that the activity, despite its design, was not intended as an expression of opinion. He believes the preschool should have realized that guardians could get the impression that the children were being forced to take part in such an expression.

It is important that public authorities do not act in a way that may give such an impression, the Chief Ombudsman argues, and assesses that the principal therefore cannot avoid criticism for allowing the activity to be carried out.

Must stop

In conclusion, the Chief Ombudsman states that any similar future activities also risk coming into conflict with the same constitutional provision, even if parental approval is obtained. This is because the preschool, by asking for parental consent, could infringe upon their right under that provision not to have to disclose their views on political or other matters.

According to the Ombudsman, preschools should therefore avoid arranging activities for children that could be perceived as demonstrations or other expressions of opinion.