Victorian mother withdraws daughter from school and speaks about sexual diversity on Q&A
A Victorian mother claims she withdrew her daughter from a high school over concerns about the content of the Safe Schools program, which supports gender and sexual diversity.
The mother, Cella White, posed a controversial question on the ABC'S Q&A program which aired last night, asking if her concerns were legitimate.
Ms White stated she has no religious affiliation, but said, "I believe it is biology that defines what sex you are, not radical gender theory,"
"I did not feel comfortable with my daughter sharing restrooms or PE change rooms with the boys who wish to identify as girls and withdrew her enrollment into year seven this year."
According to remarks on the program Cella White was reportedly disturbed by her son being offered to wear a dress to school reportedly as part of the awareness program.
"It was a blanket approach and they were sitting in science class and I just didn't think that it had anything to do with what they were trying to learn in the class."
"It was for every child sitting there and Frankston High had told me that they didn't have any transgender children so I just thought it was a, it's a funny approach for people sitting there that don't sort of have that affliction."
The query from the mother started a heated debate on the program.
Lyle Shelton from the Australian Christian Lobby said on the program, "None of us want to see children bullied for any reason whatsoever, for no reason, I think goes without saying that bullying is unacceptable full stop.
“The Safe Schools material itself actually asks schools to change their bathroom policy to allow boys who identify as girls to be in the same bathroom as young girls and also to share accommodation on school camps."
"It says that gender is not uniform with a picture of a boy wearing a girl’s school uniform, so I think a lot of parents would be rightly concerned about this, that this goes way beyond an anti-bullying program,” Mr Shelton continued.
Civil rights advocate, Dr Kerryn Phelps, does not agree Ms White's concerns are legitimate, saying, "What we do know is LGBTI students are much more likely to suffer from bullying, from physical and verbal abuse. They are much more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and they are more likely to suicide."
Dr Phelps says there should be programs that look at what life is like in the shoes of that student,"Now what Safe Schools does, it's an opt in program. The schools have to require a request from the principal to be involved. The teachers are provided with resource materials and the teachers deliver the program."
Dr Phelps says it is in response to a problem that is seen within the schools and none of the other anti-bullying programs were addressing the problems for LGBTI students.
News break – March 1
