'Gender morphing': Senator's outrage over school's 'wear a dress' fundraiser backfires

Vocal anti-same sex marriage campaigner Cory Bernardi has slammed an Adelaide primary school’s "wear a dress" fundraiser, claiming it encouraged “gender morphing”.

But the criticism backfired, helping the school generate $25,000 in donations from those who opposed the the Australian Conservatives senator's stance.

The student-led end of term activity planned to raise $900 in gold coin donations for the Do It In A Dress organisation, which supports girls in Africa from being denied an education.

However the Bernardi-led social media storm helped get the cause more attention, and fetch a wave of support for the not-for-profit overnight, despite the Senator calling the initiative “absurd” in a tweet on Wednesday.

“Over 60 million girls around the world are denied an education,” the Craigburn Primary School wrote on its blog page yesterday, announcing the initiative.

“Without an education a girl can be kept in the cycle of poverty, and struggle to earn an income or look after herself and her family.”

As an end of term tradition, Craigburn Primary School hosts a casual dress day as a gold coin donation fundraiser to raise money for a cause of choice.

For the end of Term 3 on Friday September 29, the co-ed school planned to support the Do It In A Dress campaign, where students and staff would come to school wearing either a dress or casual clothes.

“The money raised will go towards providing teachers, equipment like books and pencils, making schools safe for children to attend and providing an education so that girls can look forward to a positive future,” the school’s blog post stated.

Senator Bernardi’s tweet was received with mostly criticism from those who said he had taken the fundraiser out of context.

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“It takes a special kind of viciousness to target people for doing something good,” one person tweeted.

A small number defended the same sex marriage “Vote No” campaigner, saying the school’s fundraiser was pushing the “LGBT agenda”.

Australian comedian Josh Thomas shared Senator Bernardi’s tweet on his own social media accounts, sparking a wave of support for the Adelaide primary school’s campaign.

“These kids are being bullied by Cory for trying to help underprivileged girls,” he wrote.

“These kids were being sweet, compassionate and kind. Their cause is worthy.”

Thomas reportedly donated $2000 to the cause, and his backing encouraged fans to also make donations.

The school’s online fundraising effort raised more than $16,000 before the link was removed on Thursday morning.

"These kids aren't concerned with gender theory or the same sex marriage survey or intersectional feminism. They just thought this was a good, fun nice way of helping girls access education," the comedian wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.

In the wake of the backlash that followed Senator Bernardi’s tweet, the Do It In A Dress organisation thanked Craigburn Primary School for being part of its movement to educate girls.

“You are living proof that you’re never too young to make a difference!” the organisation said on its Facebook page in the aftermath.

“We also wanted to thank the brilliant Josh Thomas who stood up for the Craigburn school community and personally donated $2000 to their efforts - encouraging a seriously amazing wave of donations from good-hearted peeps who wanted to show their support too.”

“Thank you to everyone who made that possible!

“When you’re out to change the world, there are guaranteed to be haters and naysayers - but we are so proud of our community for standing up for what they believe in, and taking action to make the world a better place."