The Tory candidate for Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith says he would let schools promote homophobic views, in a contradictory interview posted today.

He told Pink News he would not require schools to teach that homosexuality was okay, because he supports Free Schools

I’m very strongly supportive of the government’s free schools agenda, which allows parents to set the ethos and the direction of schools. I think it’s the right policy. …

I’m torn on the issue about mandating what schools would do because, for me, it goes against the grain and it’s something that I think the mayor – working with local authorities – should be able to identify and target areas and schools where that approach doesn’t work – as opposed to having a one size fits all approach.

But what if a school taught that being gay would make someone go to hell?

For Zac Goldsmith, that “crossed the line”:

I find it unacceptable that schools should be racially divisive, or religiously divisive or ethically divisive or sexually divisive.

Fair enough. But he would not commit to actually doing anything about it.

So what if a school promoted homophobic views from the Bible or the Qu’ran, asks Pink News?

Goldsmith dodged and avoids the question.

That’s not where we are. … I don’t think it’s for you or me or law to interfere and regulate that set of beliefs, but I think where your beliefs begin to have an impact on wider society, I think it’s a different matter.

But he won’t say what that entails either.

In other words, he wouldn’t want to regulate people’s beliefs (fair enough), but he wouldn’t stop schools from promoting hateful beliefs either.

Could Zac Goldsmith get any more confused and contradictory?