School children should be taught that homosexual civil partnerships are just as valuable as marriage, the Conservative Party leader has said.
But contrary to a report in The Daily Telegraph he did not explicitly say schools should teach that homosexuality is normal.
Watch David Cameron’s comments
Mr Cameron was answering a question from homosexual lobby group, Stonewall, during an open forum about his party’s education policies.
The lobby group asked Mr Cameron whether he agreed with comments from Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who recently said faith schools should be forced to teach that homosexuality is normal and harmless.
Mr Cameron responded by saying the style and content of sex education should not be dictated “from on high in Whitehall or from Westminster.”
But he also said: “Should we teach them about civil partnerships being a way of same-sex couples showing commitment just as married couples show commitment? Yes we should.”
Mr Cameron’s comments echo his assertion that any Conservative tax break for married couples would also apply to those in civil partnerships.
Speaking this month he said: “We will recognise marriage, whether between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and a man, in the tax system — and yes, that is a commitment”.
The Conservative Party has made a number of statements in recent months showing its support for homosexual issues.
Last year it emerged that one of the party’s top priorities was to reach out to homosexual groups.
A shadow cabinet member told ConservativeHome.com blogger Tim Montgomerie that priority was part of Mr Cameron’s drive “to show that ‘new Toryism’ is still alive and kicking”.
And during the Tory party conference in October their first official ‘gay pride’ event was held, which included “posters of semi-naked men and buckets of condoms on the tables” according to a Times journalist.
David Cameron has also said his party was wrong to support Section 28 – a law banning local authorities from promoting homosexuality in schools.
During his first party conference as leader in 2006 Mr Cameron explained his view of marriage saying that as far as he was concerned “it didn’t matter whether it was between a man and a woman, a man and a man or a woman and a woman”.