Sodomy, pedophilia, homosexuality – a private school in Australia wanted to ban these “sins” from the educational institution. Now she’s rowing back.
Update from Wednesday, February 9th, 2022: The public resistance of parents, teachers, politicians and the media against the Christian private school in Brisbane, Australia, is having an effect. Citipointe Christian College reached out to parents with an apology. ABC News Australia reports. In it, the school apologized for the fact that some students might have felt discriminated against by the contract to be signed (see first report).
It was also assured that the school would not discriminate against students because of their sexuality or gender identity, neither now nor in the future. Furthermore, transsexuality and homosexuality would not reduce human dignity “in the eyes of God”. These statements are in extreme contrast to those originally mentioned in the school contract. In it, homosexuality was equated with sodomy and pedophilia; It was also required that students identify themselves with the gender determined at birth.
In the course of this, several students were deregistered from the school. The media coverage of the discriminatory contract was enormous. An online petition for the school to withdraw its contract has been signed more than 150,000 times (as of 2/3/2022), according to ABC News. The body responsible for accrediting non-government schools had scheduled a meeting for the case. This does not apply due to the withdrawal of the contract.
Signature or de-registration: school in Australia “damn” homosexuality
First report from Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022: Brisbane – “We were given a very vivid description of what would happen to us in hell,” says Katrina Patterson in an interview with 7News in Australia. She graduated from the private Christian school in Brisbane, Queensland, in 2000, which has received media attention. “When we were eight or nine years old in this school, we were shown gruesome videos of people being beheaded by guillotines,” says Patterson. According to the Australian news channel, this questionable approach was intended to deter children from homosexual acts.
Citipointe Christian College emailed the students’ parents the registration forms along with a contract. In this they should confirm by their signature that they accept the guidelines of the school on the topics of sexuality and gender.
Among other things, the document states: “The school only accepts applications from students if the gender assigned to them at birth matches that with which they identify.” This applies both to the time they start school and to the whole Period of school attendance. For transsexual students, this means that the school would not even accept them or, if they discover their transsexuality during school and want to live accordingly, would be excluded from school as a direct consequence.
School in Australia equates homosexuality with pedophilia
It also says, with reference to biblical texts, that sex is only intended by God for man and woman within the framework of marriage. Adultery, extramarital sex, sodomy, incest and pedophilia are mentioned along with pornography and bisexual and homosexual acts. All of this is condemned by God and would destroy human relationships and society, it said.
What does LGBTQIA stand for?
The acronym LGBTQIA stands for the English words lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or transgender, queer, intersexual and asexual. It is used as an acronym for all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or asexual. The plus stands for everyone who feels part of the community but does not identify with one of these terms. People within the LGBTQIA+ community often experience discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender.
Lesbian (lesbian) and gay (gay) stand for homosexuality, i.e. women who love women and men who love men.
Bisexual refers to people who love both the opposite sex (heterosexual) and their own sex (homosexual).
Transsexual and transgender (transsexual) stand for people who do not perceive their biological gender as their actual gender. For example, a person may have been born a boy but feel like a girl and vice versa. (In English there is a linguistic difference, the word “sex” denotes biological sex, while “gender” refers to social gender roles.)
Queer (literal translation roughly: different) is a term used by and for people who find these different terms limiting or do not identify with them. The term “queer” is now also used in German and means people who love or feel differently than heterosexual people.
Intersexual is a term for people who have had both female and male sexual organs in a biological sense since birth. For example, a child may be labeled biologically female at birth, but turn out to have internal testicles as well. These children are often subjected to operations when they are still very young, which makes it possible to artificially and supposedly clearly identify them as male or female.
Asexual stands for people who feel no need for physical intimacy with other people of any gender.
The plus + (sometimes also *) serves as a placeholder for further gender identities and sexual orientations. This includes, for example, pansexuality, non-binary or gender-fluid people and many more.
“To be honest, it’s hard to believe that something like this is happening these days,” Queensland Minister of Education Graziella Grace said in an emotional interview. She herself is the mother of a child who identifies as non-binary. “It’s pretty upsetting that someone [like my child] would be treated like that by this school,” Grace told ABC News, her voice breaking.
Discrimination – School in Australia gives parents two weeks’ notice
The paper with the discriminatory clauses was also published without the knowledge of its own teachers. The mother of one of the children, who is also a teacher at Citipointe Christian College, only found out about it through her role as a parent, she told ABC News Australia. She is now looking for a new school for her child because she cannot possibly sign the contract.
“I now have to expect [the child] to leave their friends behind, without [it] being able to help it. We were not warned that this was going to happen and we were told we had two weeks to sign or the child would not be able to attend school. The mother, who wants to remain anonymous, is particularly upset about the timing: the document was sent on Friday, right before school started. “I felt cornered,” she told the Australian news portal.
The school relies on the Bible – “Religious freedom is not discrimination”
Citipointe Christian College, a private school that offers the full range of the Australian school system from elementary school to senior year 12, refers to the Bible in a video message to parents: “Religious freedom is not discrimination,” said the school’s principal, Pastor Brian Mulheran in it. According to the pastor, the students should save themselves for their lifelong spouse, just as the biblical understanding of marriage requires.
The news portal 7News Australia refers to the debate about a nationwide law that is currently being discussed. The Religious Discrimination Bill would protect schools like Citipointe Christian College from the tough anti-discrimination laws in force in Queensland.
Australia – Christian school contract ‘illegal’
The Queensland Human Rights Commission has since issued a formal warning to the school. The oversight body that accredits non-government schools will consider the Citipointe College case on Thursday. Matilda Alexander from LGBTQIA legal advice told 7News about the current legal situation: “The contract is against the law. It is harmful to children and their parents.” She therefore advises all those affected to contact a lawyer.
There is also resistance from the public. As ABC News Australia reports, an online petition calling for the school to withdraw the contract has been signed more than 110,000 times to date (02/02/2022). The school continues not to respond to press inquiries, only issuing a statement Monday claiming it does not judge students with different lifestyles and beliefs. However, she did not revoke the contract.
The 125 employees of the Catholic Church, who recently collectively came out publicly, believe that modern Christianity can be reconciled with homosexuality. They follow the example of actors who had similarly come out against discrimination against members of the LGBTQIA community last year. In order to reduce discrimination in everyday life, the media in this country is paying more and more attention to inclusive language, including gender, which older men in particular find difficult to accept. (n / A)
