tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/safe-schools-coalition-24792/articlesSafe Schools Coalition – The Conversation2017-12-10T19:10:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/885542017-12-10T19:10:49Z2017-12-10T19:10:49ZA nursery of unconventional ideas – sex radicalism in Australia<p><em>Welcome to our series on sexual histories, in which our authors explore changing sexual mores from antiquity to today.</em></p>
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<p>In functioning democracies, yesterday’s radicalism is often today’s orthodoxy. Same-sex marriage was barely on the political agenda in the early years of this century. What a difference a few years can make.</p>
<p>But sometimes yesterday’s radicalism can still disturb the peace today. William Chidley was Australia’s most famous sex radical of a century ago. Chidley wandered the streets of Sydney in a thin tunic selling his booklet, The Answer, for a small fee and preaching his message to anyone willing to listen.</p>
<p>In The Answer, Chidley criticised “the crowbar method” – a none-too-subtle reference to a male erection – of intercourse. He argued that sex between and man and woman should occur only in the spring, when the woman’s vagina would act as a vacuum, drawing the flaccid penis inside. The present unnatural method of coition, Chidley argued, was ruining civilisation. His own method would save it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197686/original/file-20171204-23009-1hk1m7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A banner promoting one of Chidley’s talks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of New South Wales</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Chidley was persecuted by officialdom, declared insane, condemned by doctors, and locked up in jail and an asylum. </p>
<p>But there was also a popular campaign in support of him. Feminists endorsed Chidley’s message of gentleness. Liberals approved his right to speak. Socialists detected a plot to suppress a fellow radical. Still the persecution continued until his death late in 1916.</p>
<p>When in 2013, an innovative young historian in the ABC’s social history unit, Catherine Freyne, made a radio documentary about Chidley, she hired an actor to dress up like him and once again declaim The Answer. How would Sydney react this time round?</p>
<p>Unlike the original Chidley, this one was not arrested. Indeed, among the preoccupied shoppers in the Pitt Street Mall, he attracted little attention at all. But Speakers’ Corner at the Domain was livelier. While the audience was apparently torn between puzzlement and amusement, Chidley was soon being <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/good-sex---the-confessions-and-campaigns-of-w.j.-chidley/4597570">roundly abused</a> by an audience member. </p>
<p>Chidley was not the only sex radical in Australia, although he was, for a time, the most famous. Indeed, Australia has been something of a nursery of unconventional sexual ideas. Rosamund Benham was an early female graduate in medicine from the University of Adelaide who wrote pamphlets grappling with how modern couples could enjoy sex without the harmful effect of male “animal passion”. </p>
<p>In Sense About Sex and Circumvention (credited to “a Woman Doctor”) she turned to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coitus_reservatus">Karezza</a>, or “practicable continence”. A couple, she said, should cultivate their self-restraint by embracing each other in a nude state without actual “sexual connection”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197702/original/file-20171205-22967-1uzy7i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Henry Havelock Ellis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>If they persisted, they would achieve “the highest delight through a thorough exchange of magnetism”. The idea, unsurprisingly, did not catch on, but her husband and one of his comrades were nonetheless prosecuted and sentenced to brief terms of imprisonment in 1906 — later overturned on appeal — for selling the booklets.</p>
<p>The most famous sexual scientist in the English-speaking world in the first half of the 20th century, Henry Havelock Ellis, had earlier spent four years in country New South Wales working as a teacher. By his own account, this was a critical time in his spiritual and intellectual formation. Ellis then returned to Britain to study medicine and make his name as the author of Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897-1910). </p>
<p>Chidley sought his friendship and support via a letter. Ellis responded with characteristic kindness, as well as drawing, for his own writings, on the unpublished autobiography Chidley sent him (eventually published as The Confessions of William James Chidley in 1977). </p>
<h2>A gender continuum</h2>
<p>Australia, meanwhile, continued to produce its own sex radicals, a few of them, like Ellis, globally influential. Norman Haire, a Sydney doctor, went to England in the 1920s and 1930s, making his fortune performing “rejuvenation” operations for wealthy clients, W.B. Yeats among them. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197704/original/file-20171205-22986-1r4plex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Norman Haire pictured in the 1940s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>“Rejuvenation” — which might variously involve a testicle or ovary transplant, x-ray stimulation, or a vasectomy — would supposedly enhance sexual vigour. But Haire was also a pioneering birth controller, sex reformer and prolific author on diverse sexual subjects. He wrote a sex advice column in an Australian’s women’s magazine after returning to Sydney during the second world war.</p>
<p>When the sexual revolution unfolded in the 1960s and 1970s, Australian sex radicals were there again, with British-based expatriates prominent. Richard Neville’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1439793.Play_Power?ac=1&from_search=true">Play Power</a> (1970) celebrated the sexual libertarianism of the international counter-culture while Germaine Greer’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98532.The_Female_Eunuch">The Female Eunuch</a>, published in the same year, was a feminist landmark as well as a work of sexual libertarianism. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198229/original/file-20171207-11325-1jbuchc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Germaine Greer in 1970.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germaine_Greer#/media/File:Germaine_Greer,_1972_(cropped).jpg">Nationaal Archief Fotocollectie Anefo/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A few of her ideas, while clothed in the blunt and sometimes Anglo-Saxon language of sexual revolution, belong to a lineage that in Australia stretched back at least to Chidley. “The man who is expected to have a rigid penis at all times,” Greer declared in an article in 1971, “is not any freer than the woman whose vagina is supposed to explode with the first thrust of such a penis.”</p>
<p>But it is perhaps with <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dennis-altman-7746">Dennis Altman’s</a> sex radicalism that we move closest to the preoccupations of our present. Altman, in recent years an academic at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, was the author of the best-selling Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation (1971). It is rightly regarded as a pioneering work of gay scholarship and politics, but it is Altman’s insistence on what we might now call gender fluidity that now seems most striking and prescient.</p>
<p>Liberation, Altman suggested, would allow people to be truly human, instead of being trapped in acting out the roles prescribed by a patriarchal society to “men”, “women”, “heterosexuals” and “homosexuals”. </p>
<p>Drawing on Freud’s concept of “polymorphous perversity”, Altman went so far as to call the final chapter of his book The End of the Homosexual?, arguing provocatively that “the homosexual’s very existence is an affront to the way in which society defines roles, sexuality, and achievement”. In a truly liberated order, he added, “the homosexual as we know him or her may … disappear”. </p>
<p>Here we find, in an earlier form, the notion of a gender continuum that seems so disturbing to modern conservatives. The recent ordeal of the Safe Schools program, and the terms in which the conservative Christian lobby campaigned against same-sex marriage, can be seen in a new perspective once we have this longer history in view.</p>
<h2>Ordinary, open-minded citizens</h2>
<p>One reason the authorities dealt sternly with Chidley was his habit of addressing audiences that included women and children. The fear — whether sincere or concocted — that children would be damaged by exposure to “progressive” or “radical” sexual ideas has been resilient. For many years, it was a pillar of opposition to sex education in schools. It has been at the heart of the anti-Safe Schools campaign and figured in the unlikely context of the marriage equality debate.</p>
<p>The association of sex radicalism with ambitions to transform society has also aroused fear and hostility. The wider implications of Chidley’s scheme for male sexual privilege were one reason he attracted the support of feminists and the hostility of powerful men. Similarly, the Australian Christian Lobby and the Murdoch press mobilised hostility to Safe Schools on the basis that it was supposedly seeking to impose radical changes to the gender order, as well as to advance a radical socialist or Marxist agenda.</p>
<p>What the wider public thinks of these often confusing culture wars is not easy to fathom. A majority clearly rejected the effort to link marriage equality to the corruption of children. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2017/09/moral-panic-101">Benjamin Law has reported</a>, Safe Schools, in one form or another, survives on the life-support offered by state Labor governments. Many schools are taking their own steps – often with the help of the Safe Schools program – to assist students dealing with the challenges of negotiating sexual and gender identity.</p>
<p>A century ago, while officialdom persecuted Chidley, many ordinary Australians supported him as a sincere battler who deserved a hearing. Today, in these matters as in so many other aspects of Australian life, ordinary citizens sceptical of hyperbole and practical in their concerns are often providing more dynamic leadership than those they elect to lead them.</p>
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<p><em>Tomorrow: sex in convict Australia</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Bongiorno does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From William Chidley to Germaine Greer Australia has spawned more than its fair share of radical thinkers about sex, and Australians have often embraced their ideas, despite persecution by officialdom.Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874372017-11-22T01:16:53Z2017-11-22T01:16:53ZFactCheck: does the Safe Schools program contain ‘highly explicit material’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194738/original/file-20171115-11296-14ajkw2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson has been publicly critical of the Safe Schools program.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Regi Varghese</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>It contains highly explicit material directed at young children in their most formative years …</p>
<p><strong>– One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson, making reference to the Safe Schools program in a <a href="http://www.stevedickson.com.au/media-release/queensland-leader-of-one-nation-insists-that-the-controversial-safe-schools-program-be-permanently-abolished/">One Nation media release</a>, November 13, 2017.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>At a recent press conference discussing One Nation’s policies for “protecting the whole family unit”, One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-11/annastacia-palaszczuk-rubbishes-one-nations-safe-schools-claim/9141520">claimed that</a> female students in Grade 4 were “being taught by teachers how to masturbate, how to strap on dildos, how to do this sort of stuff” under the Safe Schools program.</p>
<p>While Dickson later apologised for the “specific words” he used, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-14/one-nation-mp-steve-dickson-sorry-wording-safe-schools-claims/9147210">he went on to say</a> the information resource does contain “highly explicit material” that is being “directed at young children”.</p>
<p>Let’s look at the facts.</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>The Conversation contacted Steve Dickson’s office to request sources and comment, but did not hear back before deadline.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson’s claim that the Safe Schools program “contains highly explicit material directed at young children in their formative years” is incorrect.</p>
<p>There is no discussion of the details of specific sex acts, sex aids or sexual health in Safe Schools resources. </p>
<p>Safe Schools is an optional resource for schools and teachers. Its aim is to help school staff create safer and more inclusive environments for LGBTI students and families. </p>
<h2>What is the Safe Schools program?</h2>
<p>The Victorian government <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/safe-schools-coalition.aspx?Redirect=1#link93">first established</a> the <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/">Safe Schools Coalition Australia</a> in 2010. It’s now a <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/our-supporters/organisations">national network</a> convened by the <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/our-programs/">Foundation for Young Australians</a>, and delivered by <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/contact-us">partner organisations</a> in several states and territories.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/resources">published aim</a> of the Safe Schools Coalition is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… to help school staff create safer and more inclusive environments for same-sex-attracted, intersex and gender-diverse students, school staff and families.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The program provides <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/resources">optional resources</a> for secondary schools, including professional development for teachers and one <a href="https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/resources/detail?id=72144922-d5c5-6d32-997d-ff0000a69c30#/">classroom-level teaching resource</a>, “All of Us”, designed for Year 7 and 8 students, who are generally aged between 11 and 14.</p>
<p>Safe Schools is supported in some form by several state and territory governments. But it is not a compulsory part of the curriculum in any Australian jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Safe Schools received <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/news/safe-schools-coalition-australia-launched">federal funding</a> for four years, <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/from-a-safe-schools-coalition-australia-ssca-spokesperson-4">but this ended in June 2017</a>. Some state and territory governments have committed to continue funding Safe Schools to make it available for government schools. </p>
<h2>The Safe Schools review</h2>
<p>In February 2016 I was asked by the federal education minister, Simon Birmingham, to review the resources given to schools under Safe Schools. I reported on the extent to which the resources were:</p>
<ul>
<li>consistent with the program’s aims</li>
<li>suitable and robust</li>
<li>age-appropriate</li>
<li>educationally sound, and </li>
<li>aligned to the Australian curriculum.</li>
</ul>
<p>Broadly, I <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review_of_appropriateness_and_efficacy_of_the_ssca_program_resources_0.pdf">found</a> that the materials were consistent with the program’s aims, and suitable and appropriate for use in schools.</p>
<p>I recommended schools be given official guidelines around the context in which certain materials should be available, as well as around the suitability of material available on third-party websites recommended in the Safe Schools resources.</p>
<p>At that time, I found no school had implemented the whole eight-lesson “All of Us” classroom program, and that it was reasonable for teachers to decide how many of the resources to use based on their own school policy.</p>
<h2>How did the government respond?</h2>
<p>In response to my review, the <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/birmingham/statement-safe-schools-coalition">federal government introduced</a> a series of changes to the way Safe Schools operated. </p>
<p>Some lesson plans for the “All of Us” classroom resource were amended or removed to ensure they were suitable for all students and appropriate for their target age group. Some other resources were restricted to use in one-on-one discussions between students and key qualified staff.</p>
<p>The government recommended that schools consult with parents and parent bodies regarding the implementation of Safe Schools, and local program managers were required to ensure the distribution of the program was restricted to secondary schools only.</p>
<p>You can read more about those recommendations and changes <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/birmingham/statement-safe-schools-coalition">here</a>.</p>
<p>Not all states and territories implemented all of the changes, and as mentioned earlier, federal funding of the program has now ceased. You can read more about how Safe Schools is offered across Australia in this <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-will-safe-schools-be-mandatory-if-same-sex-marriage-is-legalised-84437">recent FactCheck</a>. It’s worth reiterating that the level of any school’s engagement with the program is optional. </p>
<h2>Does Safe Schools contain ‘highly explicit material’?</h2>
<p>The words “highly explicit” will mean different things to different people. </p>
<p>But there is certainly no discussion of the details of specific sex acts or sex aids or sexual health in the “All of Us” classroom resource or any other resources currently offered as part of Safe Schools.</p>
<p>The government’s changes meant the Safe Schools curriculum resource <a href="https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/docs/default-source/all-of-us-online-version-may-2016-v3-pdf2af89fb756c645d9b8492a68a39765f6.pdf?sfvrsn=0">“All of Us”</a>, which is designed for teachers to use with Year 7 and Year 8 students, was revised.</p>
<p>Any web links to third-party websites that may have contained material that some might consider explicit were removed. Birmingham’s changes included ensuring that any web links were government-funded organisations.</p>
<p>As it stands today, “All of Us” contains material on sexual diversity, homophobia and transphobia, gender identity and stereotypes, intersex characteristics, supportive and disrespectful behaviours, and school strategies to create a safer environment for LGBTI people. <strong>– Bill Louden</strong></p>
<h2>Blind review</h2>
<p>This is a sound FactCheck. </p>
<p>The author is correct: the Safe Schools Coalition provides optional resources for schools and educators, primarily designed to support gender diversity and same-sex attracted young people. The resources <em>do not</em> reference masturbation, or teach about sex toys or sex aids. </p>
<p>While federal government funding of the Safe Schools Coalition Australia program has completed, select Safe Schools resources are available on the <a href="studentwellbeinghub.edu.au">Student Wellbeing Hub</a>, which is funded by the Australian Department of Education. </p>
<p>Safe Schools does offer support and resources to primary school educators, but this is strictly on request only. Again, resources for primary schools <em>do not</em> teach or discuss or reference masturbation, or sex toys.</p>
<p>The author is correct that the <a href="https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/docs/default-source/all-of-us-online-version-may-2016-v3-pdf2af89fb756c645d9b8492a68a39765f6.pdf?sfvrsn=0">“All of Us”</a> resource is a health and physical education resource designed for years 7 and 8 students. It <em>does not</em> teach or discuss or reference masturbation, or sex toys. <strong>– Emma Rowe</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking the Queensland election. If you see a ‘fact’ you’d like checked, let us know by sending a note via <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a>. The Conversation <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversation-is-fact-checking-the-queensland-election-and-we-want-to-hear-from-you-86779">thanks James Cook University</a> for its support.</strong></p>
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<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Conversation FactCheck is accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>The Conversation’s FactCheck unit is the first fact-checking team in Australia and one of the first worldwide to be accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network, an alliance of fact-checkers hosted at the Poynter Institute in the US. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversations-factcheck-granted-accreditation-by-international-fact-checking-network-at-poynter-74363">Read more here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Have you seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">checkit@theconversation.edu.au</a>. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Louden has received funding in the past from state and federal governments. He was previously on the board of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). In 2016, Bill Louden was commissioned by Education Minister Simon Birmingham to conduct an independent review into the appropriateness and efficacy of the Safe Schools Coalition Australia program resources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Rowe receives funding from National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. </span></em></p>One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson said the Safe Schools program contained ‘highly explicit material’ that is being ‘directed at young children’. We asked the experts to look at the facts.Bill Louden, Emeritus professor, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/844372017-10-01T18:37:38Z2017-10-01T18:37:38ZFactCheck: will Safe Schools be ‘mandatory’ if same-sex marriage is legalised?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187339/original/file-20170925-17375-15ckx9p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This pamphlet, authorised by the Australian Conservatives, was received in a letter box in a Victorian suburb in September.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>If same-sex marriage is legalised, Safe Schools and others like it will be mandatory in schools. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>– Australian Conservatives <a href="https://www.conservatives.org.au/voteno_material">“Vote No” campaign material</a>, September, 2017.</strong> </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186962/original/file-20170921-8185-44xcm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Vote No’ campaign material authorised by the Australian Conservatives party.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.conservatives.org.au/stop_the_safe_schools_agenda#safeschools">Australian Conservatives</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Campaigning for and against same-sex marriage continues as Australians respond to a <a href="https://marriagesurvey.abs.gov.au/">national voluntary postal survey</a> asking whether same-sex couples should be able to marry under Australian law.</p>
<p>“Vote No” campaign material distributed by the Australian Conservatives, a political party founded by Senator Cory Bernardi, claims that “if same-sex marriage is legalised, Safe Schools and others like it will be mandatory in schools”.</p>
<p>Let’s look at the facts. </p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>The Conversation contacted the Australian Conservatives requesting sources to support the claims made in the party’s “Vote No” campaign material, but did not receive a response. </p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>The information published in the Australian Conservatives “Vote No” campaign material is incorrect and misleading.</p>
<p>There is no link between the federal Marriage Act and the Australian Curriculum.</p>
<p>The Safe Schools program is a resource for schools and teachers to use at their own discretion. It is not a “mandatory” part of any national, state or territory curriculum – and never was. Making such programs mandatory in the classroom would be inconsistent with curriculum policy and practice in Australia. </p>
<h2>There is no link between same-sex marriage and Safe Schools</h2>
<p>Let’s cover the basic points first:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma196185/">federal Marriage Act</a> and the <a href="http://www.australia.gov.au/information-and-services/education-and-training/curriculum">Australian Curriculum</a> are not related to each other. Any change to one does not have any effect on the other</p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://marriagesurvey.abs.gov.au/">postal survey</a> currently being conducted asking whether the law should be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry has no relation to teacher professional development and learning resources made available to schools, and </p></li>
<li><p>whether or not same-sex marriage is legalised in Australia also has no relation to teacher professional development and learning resources made available to schools. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, because such claims are being made, let’s take a closer look.</p>
<h2>What is the Safe Schools program?</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/">Safe Schools Coalition Australia</a> was <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/safe-schools-coalition.aspx?Redirect=1#link93">first established by the Victorian Government in 2010</a>. It’s now a <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/our-supporters/organisations">national network</a> convened by the <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/our-programs/">Foundation for Young Australians</a>, and delivered by <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/contact-us">partner organisations</a> in several Australian states and territories. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/resources">published aim</a> of the Safe Schools Coalition is “to help school staff create safer and more inclusive environments for same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, school staff and families”.</p>
<p>The Safe Schools program provides <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/resources">optional resources</a> for secondary schools, including professional development for teachers and one <a href="https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/resources/detail?id=72144922-d5c5-6d32-997d-ff0000a69c30#/">classroom-level teaching resource</a> designed for Year 7 and 8 students.</p>
<p>All of the Safe Schools resources are optional, and not a mandatory component of any national, state or territory curriculum.</p>
<p>Schools that choose to participate in the Safe Schools program are <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/resources">expected</a> to make their own judgements about which policies and practices they adopt and which resources they use. </p>
<h2>State and territory support for Safe Schools</h2>
<p>The Safe Schools program is supported in some form by several state and territory governments. But it is not a compulsory part of the curriculum in any Australian jurisdiction. </p>
<p>The Safe Schools program received <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/news/safe-schools-coalition-australia-launched">federal funding</a> for four years, <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/from-a-safe-schools-coalition-australia-ssca-spokesperson-4">but this ended in June 2017</a>. Some state and territory governments have committed to continue funding the program to make it available for government schools. Independent (non-government) schools set their own policies about which programs they will fund and/or implement. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/safe-schools-coalition.aspx?Redirect=1">Victoria</a>, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-26/safe-schools-act-government-funding-federal-changes/7790254">Australian Capital Territory</a> and <a href="https://www.markmcgowan.com.au/news/wa-labor-to-fundsafeschools-in-western-australia-1141">Western Australia</a> will continue to fund the program. <a href="https://www.decd.sa.gov.au/department/media-centre/news/new-safe-schools-anti-bullying-program">South Australia</a> is funding a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-17/sa-to-push-ahead-with-revised-safe-schools-program/8534682">revised</a> <a href="https://www.shinesa.org.au/community-information/sexual-gender-diversity/shine-sa-safe-schools/">version</a> of the Safe Schools program. </p>
<p>Safe Schools will continue to provide professional development for teachers in Queensland, although the government is <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/kate-jones-denies-qld-safe-schools-cuts/news-story/70245fcbdbaa72fe9d8c1f2d7e750e14">yet to confirm</a> whether it will fund the program when its federal allocation runs out in October.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/4603979/safe-schools-funding-cuts/">Tasmania</a> and New South Wales <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/nsw-education-minister-rob-stokes-to-dump-safe-schools-program-20170416-gvlp47.html">will not be funding the program</a>, with both states <a href="http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-us/news-at-det/media-releases/minister-stokes/launch-of-new-school-anti-bullying-strategy">replacing it</a> with <a href="https://antibullying.nsw.gov.au/">other anti-bullying resources</a>.</p>
<p>In March 2017 the Victorian Department of Education and Training <a href="http://www.jamesmerlino.com.au/news/safe-schools-program/">took responsibility for the delivery</a> of Safe Schools in that state. The Victorian government has <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/safe-schools-coalition.aspx?Redirect=1">said</a> that it will expand the program “to all government secondary schools by the end of 2018”. But as the government <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/safe-schools-coalition.aspx?Redirect=1#link56">has outlined</a>, schools will have discretion about using the program:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Safe Schools program helps schools foster a safe environment that is supportive and inclusive of LGBTI students. How this commitment is realised is determined by each school, based on its local context and the needs of its school community. </p>
<p>Safe Schools is not a subject in the curriculum, nor is it prescriptive in any way. Schools have the discretion to use as many or as few of the resources, training materials, and other support that the program offers to help them deliver their commitment.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Safe Schools is not a ‘mandatory’ part of any Australian curriculum</h2>
<p>In each Australian state and territory there is a compulsory <a href="http://www.australia.gov.au/information-and-services/education-and-training/school-education">Foundation to Year 10 curriculum</a>. The curriculums vary from one state or territory to another, but all resemble the <a href="https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/">Australian Curriculum</a>. All government and independent (private) schools are required to teach according to the relevant state or territory curriculum.</p>
<p>The curriculum outlines the subjects that must be taught (maths and English, for example) and the content descriptions for those subjects. As an example, here’s <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Search/?q=ACPPS074">one of the Australian Curriculum content descriptions</a> for <a href="https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/health-and-physical-education/?strand=Personal,+Social+and+Community+Health&strand=Movement+and+Physical+Activity&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&elaborations=true">health and physical education</a> for Year 7 and 8 students:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Investigate the benefits of relationships and examine their impact on their own and others’ health and well being.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers following the Australian Curriculum are expected to teach this content, but there are no compulsory lesson plans, activities or textbooks. </p>
<p>The Safe Schools program is one of many <a href="https://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/p/about">sets</a> of <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/edresources/teacherskits.htm">optional</a> <a href="https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/teaching/teaching-resources">resources</a> available for teachers. </p>
<p>Making any of these lesson plans or resources compulsory would be inconsistent with curriculum policy and practice in Australia, which regulates the subjects and content students are taught, not any resources used at a classroom level.</p>
<h2>Blind review #1</h2>
<p>The verdict is valid. The explanation provided is accurate and balanced, and the source material is correct and appropriate.</p>
<p>The resources that teachers use in implementing their lessons is a matter of professional judgement in the context of the particular needs of their students.</p>
<p>There are no outcomes or content descriptions in either the Australian Curriculum or various state/territory curriculum documents that would require teachers to use the Safe Schools resources. <strong>– Philip Roberts</strong></p>
<h2>Blind review #2</h2>
<p>The FactCheck is correct. Whether or not same-sex marriage is legalised has no bearing on whether states or schools would engage with any particular teacher professional development or learning resource. </p>
<p>There is one clarification regarding the term “curriculum”. Many people argue that the school curriculum is the list of school subjects that are taught to students. Safe Schools is not required as a school subject, or within a school subject.</p>
<p>Others claim “curriculum” consists of all the planned learning offered to students. Using this definition, if an individual school or state required Safe Schools to be part of the student learning experience, then it would become a mandatory part of a school curriculum. Even in such cases, the engagement with any program would be the responsibility of individual schools. Again, this has no relation to the outcome of the postal survey, or any subsequent legislation.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the FactCheck verdict is correct. Safe Schools will not be made mandatory in schools as a result of same-sex marriage being legal in Australia. <strong>– Murray Print</strong></p>
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<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Conversation FactCheck is accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>The Conversation’s FactCheck unit is the first fact-checking team in Australia and one of the first worldwide to be accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network, an alliance of fact-checkers hosted at the Poynter Institute in the US. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversations-factcheck-granted-accreditation-by-international-fact-checking-network-at-poynter-74363">Read more here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Have you seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">checkit@theconversation.edu.au</a>. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Louden has received funding in the past from state and federal governments. He was previously on the board of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). In 2016, Bill Louden was commissioned by Education Minister Simon Birmingham to conduct an independent review into the appropriateness and efficacy of the Safe Schools Coalition Australia program resources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Murray Print has received government research grants.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Roberts has received funding from the Australian government.</span></em></p>‘Vote No’ campaign material distributed by the Australian Conservatives claims that if same-sex marriage is legalised, the Safe Schools program will be ‘mandatory in schools’. We looked at the facts.Bill Louden, Emeritus Professor of Education, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824292017-08-24T00:42:25Z2017-08-24T00:42:25ZEthnic religious communities may be the ‘No’ campaign’s secret weapon in same-sex marriage fight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183533/original/file-20170827-27560-xp8szu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community leaders will play a very important role in whipping votes for or against in the same-sex marriage plebiscite.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alan Porritt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chris Mitchell, formerly The Australian’s editor-in-chief, got it right recently when he pointed to <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ethnic-angst-on-samesex-marriage-vows/news-story/d5d6d118eb86144405208bde889c6794?login=1">social conservatism among many ethnic communities</a> as a key factor in deciding the result of the upcoming same-sex marriage survey. <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/opinion/samesex-advocates-outed-when-it-comes-to-democratic-values/news-story/58daecdb924a074d089e85f9c94138c0">He noted</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the truth is, many recent migrant groups from Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu backgrounds will be among the most passionate opponents of SSM. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the 2016 federal election, two if not three seats went to the government on the back of an unexpected rise in the Christian Democratic Party’s primary vote. The preferences then flowed to the Liberals. </p>
<p>These seats had large numbers of voters with a Chinese background. They were hit with a massive Weibo social media campaign by evangelical Christians of Chinese ethnicity targeting fears over same-sex marriage and the Safe Schools program – and the impact <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hate-speech-risk-in-samesex-marriage-plebiscite-says-fred-niles-cdp-20160716-gq74vy.html">was dramatic</a>.</p>
<h2>The power of fear</h2>
<p>The “No” campaign has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/church-warns-of-samesex-coercion-for-schools-hospitals/news-story/3eae56b41c28c0ac16bbf4ecafe04288">already linked</a> same-sex marriage with Safe Schools. This linking of the two was perfected in the Chinese community at the 2016 federal election with real effect. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/tony-abbott-morphs-same-sex-marriage-into-a-culture-war-issue-82279">the idea</a>, promoted by the likes of Tony Abbott, that all “politically correct” issues can be confronted by voting “no” may prove to be something of an overstep.</p>
<p>The Chinese community, and many religious minorities, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/10/ush-to-weaken-racial-discrimination-act-opposed-by-ethnic-and-religious-groups">were resolute</a> in resisting Abbott’s and then Malcolm Turnbull’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/government-backtracks-on-racial-discrimination-act-changes/5650030">push to amend Section 18C</a> of the Racial Discrimination Act. They did not <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-believe-18c-protections-should-stay-73049">buy the argument</a> about freedom of speech.</p>
<h2>The numbers game</h2>
<p>Assuming the government’s <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/pyne-calls-mccormacks-samesex-marriage-sordid-comments-unacceptable/news-story/8bb9cfb88a57e901a2145a78b1cd4093">prediction</a> of a survey turnout of at least 50% is correct, the “winner” will need to secure just over 4 million votes from about 8 million people surveyed.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/036">2016 Census</a> provides some insight into the numbers of minority community Australians involved in the same-sex marriage vote.</p>
<p>About 2.5 million Christians living in Australia were born overseas. 500,000 have come from eastern and southern Europe, 160,000 from North Africa and the Middle East, 155,000 from the Americas, 400,000 from southeast Asia, 150,000 from northeast Asia, 130,000 from southern and central Asia, and 200,000 from sub-Saharan Africa.</p>
<p>Not all are of voting age, nor are they all Australian citizens. But they do form serious reservoirs of more conservative cultural values. </p>
<p>Looking at Australian citizens of voting age, there are about 8.5 million Christians, about 4.7 million secularists and non-believers, about 300,000 Buddhists, about 230,000 Muslims, 160,000 Hindus, and about 60,000 Jews. If 60% of the believing communities responded “No”, then same-sex marriage could fail.</p>
<p>As the “Yes” vote groups already realise, getting the vote out will be crucial. The “No” campaigners only need to convince those undecided not to vote. So, voting “Yes” becomes an increasingly “brave” act, and one that may be experienced as a serious breach of community norms. </p>
<h2>What to expect</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2003/11/a_common_missed_conception.html">Religious blocs</a>, consisting of conservative Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders, have previously united to confront the UN over birth control strategies, and show their resistance to abortion and similar interventions. </p>
<p>Effectively, that bloc now has the US government <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-global-gag-order-5-questions-answered-77838">in its corner</a>. They may well be joined by Buddhist and Hindu leaders this time around. </p>
<p>Interfaith meetings <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/religious-leaders-reserve-the-right-to-call-homosexuality-a-sin/news-story/7cb99e1bbc4af12af58ccdd8b21627f2">have taken place</a> where religious leaders combined to confront government agencies on the same-sex marriage question, and even the very legitimacy of homosexuality. Where it occurs, the debate is fiery, as was revealed by the opposing submissions from religious leaders and gay activists <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Same_Sex_Marriage/SameSexMarriage/Submissions">from ethnic communities</a> to the Senate inquiry into same-sex marriage. </p>
<p>Community leaders will play an important role among those voters who have poorer English language skills. It’s not hard to envisage churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and similar holding working bees, where attendees can be assured they have filled in the forms correctly, and they can then be collected and posted en masse so none are lost.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/arts/television/07sara.html">example of grandchildren</a> of retired Jewish families in Florida arguing them into supporting a black Democrat presidential candidate (Barack Obama) in 2008 indicates that strategies can be implemented that minimise the stereotypical attachment of older religious people to conservative values. </p>
<p>However, it is not clear, for example, how younger Muslim or Hindu people will go arguing with their parents and grandparents to support same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>If the voluntary vote survives a High Court challenge <a href="https://theconversation.com/using-the-abs-to-conduct-a-same-sex-marriage-poll-is-legally-shaky-and-lacks-legitimacy-82245">over its legality</a>, it may well prove a much more powerful weapon for the conservatives than a compulsory plebiscite would ever have been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82429/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Jakubowicz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Social conservatism among many ethnic communities will be a key factor in deciding the result of the upcoming same-sex marriage survey.Andrew Jakubowicz, Professor of Sociology, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/787442017-06-02T04:05:41Z2017-06-02T04:05:41ZCatholic schools’ ‘alternative’ to Safe Schools isn’t all that alternative<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171946/original/file-20170602-25697-1o1bgzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some in the Catholic community previously labeled the Safe Schools program as 'controversial'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mal Fairclough/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Catholic school network’s <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/were-not-trying-to-be-provocative-catholic-schools-to-fight-homophobia-20170531-gwhdhf.html">launch of an “alternative”</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-safe-schools-coalition-55018">Safe Schools Coalition</a> - an anti-bullying program – is based on the same research and approaches. </p>
<p>This alternative program bears remarkable similarities in both its research base and the conclusions it draws for best practice. This demonstrates that when the <a href="http://www.glhv.org.au/files/wti3_web_sml.pdf">research</a> is taken into account, the Safe Schools approach perhaps wasn’t part of a <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/miranda-devine-marxist-agenda-a-red-flag-for-not-so-safe-schools/news-story/7e1ee74bd8b682f188333828ce5e374e">“Marxist agenda”</a> after all. </p>
<p>The materials available draw on the same statistics about the prevalence of sexual and gender diversity among young people as Safe Schools. </p>
<p>These are the same stats that proved so <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/school-standards-drop-as-government-pushes-a-politically-correct-program/news-story/1d8ee8085c93ae14df39ea8613e40863">controversial</a> and were contested as “misleading” when used by Safe Schools Victoria. </p>
<p>Established by <a href="http://www.erea.edu.au/about-us/safe-and-inclusive-learning-communities">Edmund Rice Education Australia</a> (EREA), these materials have been developed as a response to EREA’s “Safe and inclusive learning communities” report.</p>
<p>EREA is providing resources and training for the Australian Catholic schools under their governance as part of an approach to provide:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>safe and inclusive learning environments for all students, in particular for same-sex attracted and gender diverse young people.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>But weren’t Catholic schools against Safe schools Coalition?</h2>
<p>Safe Schools recently <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-16/safe-schools-program-ditched-in-nsw/8446680">lost its federal funding</a> after being labelled as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-23/turnbull-requests-investigation-into-safe-schools-program/7192374">“inappropriate”</a> by critics. </p>
<p>Much of this criticism came from <a href="https://www.catholicweekly.com.au/safe-schools-coalition-not-so-safe/">members of the Catholic Community</a> who, along with the <a href="http://www.safeschools.acl.org.au/">Australian Christian Lobby</a> and <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/search-results?q=safe+schools+rebecca+urban+roz+ward">particular media outlets</a>, succeeded in framing the approach as “controversial” and “ideological”.</p>
<p>The program had also been accused of <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/government-and-teacher-union-hypocrisy-as-lgbti-agenda-plugged-in-schools-20160208-gmp18h.html">“promoting a radical view of gender and sexuality”</a>, and foisting it on schools through <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2015/03/24/4204018.htm">“indoctrination”, “enforcement”, and “induction”</a>.</p>
<p>The Victoria government was the only state to agree to keep funding the Safe Schools program. But in doing do, it decided to cut ties with its co-founder, Roz Ward – terminating the roles of Ward and the three other staff members – after a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/safe-schools-program-to-be-overhauled-and-founder-roz-ward-removed-20161216-gtctgs.html">public backlash</a> about Ward’s personal political views.</p>
<h2>So why do Catholic schools now want to teach this?</h2>
<p>This proposal is certainly promising. </p>
<p>EREA represent a <a href="http://www.erea.edu.au/about-us/vision-and-mission">progressive strain</a> of Catholicism. Edmund Rice is cited in EREA material as inspiring Catholic schools “to give particular care to young people who might otherwise be excluded or rejected”.</p>
<p>EREA has a publicly available <a href="http://www.erea.edu.au/docs/default-source/about-erea/safe-and-inclusive-learning-communities/erea_safe_and_inclusive_statement.pdf?sfvrsn=4">Safe and Inclusive Learning Communities Statement</a> and a document offering <a href="http://www.erea.edu.au/docs/default-source/about-erea/safe-and-inclusive-learning-communities/erea_safe_and_inclusive_faq.pdf?sfvrsn=4">resources for principals, school leaders and teachers</a>. These outline an approach based on safety, wellbeing and positive affirmation, with an aim of students “feeling good” about their sexual and gender identity. </p>
<p>EREA directly tackles the possibility of its approach being received as controversial by teachers and parents by making some effort to frame its guidelines as an issue of awareness, education and safety. </p>
<h2>What is being taught - and is it any different to Safe Schools?</h2>
<p>Like Safe Schools, EREA recommends whole-school approaches that openly acknowledge the awareness of sexually and gender diverse members of the student community in both primary and secondary schools.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10560-007-0091-z">Affirmative approaches</a> have long been best-practice, demanding cultural competence from teachers or practitioners and framing queer identity as equally valid and positive as heterosexual identity. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.erea.edu.au/docs/default-source/about-erea/safe-and-inclusive-learning-communities/erea_safe_and_inclusive_faq.pdf?sfvrsn=4">resources also state</a> that in primary schools:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is also important for students who come from LGBTI families or who have LGBTI siblings to feel that their families and identities are a valued and visible part of the school community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The document for teachers is careful to emphasise that sexual identity does not automatically equate with sexual practice. It says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>because a student is an LGBTI person does not automatically mean that they are or will be sexually active.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is perhaps a response to charges of Safe Schools <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/inquiry-told-safe-schools-sexualising-kids/news-story/ff033cd6f1c00f0f4221a9679a672b15">“sexualising”</a> young people. But it also may well be an allusion to the standard Catholic practice of distinguishing between having desires and acting on them as a way to appease those for whom affirmation of queer “acts” may be too far. </p>
<p>The key difference from Safe Schools is that, as well as appealing to the wellbeing of young people, affirmation is framed as a Catholic virtue, with quotations from the Bible, Pope Francis and the Catholic Church as evidence. </p>
<p>The statement, for example, leads with the emphasis that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our sacred scripture reminds us (Genesis 1) that each and every person is made in the image and likeness of God.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In particular, both documents finish with a quotation from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. </p>
<p>The research-based, whole-school nature of this proposal is promising. However, it remains to be seen how it plays out in practice, and whether an approach backed by a Catholic School Network will experience the same level of vitriol as Safe Schools. </p>
<p>While moves to manage sexual and gender affirmation in-house are commendable, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20593304">research</a> shows that “sexuality support” can be more effective and better contribute to queer young people’s health and wellbeing when provided by people who are themselves from sexual minorities. </p>
<p>It is <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/role_models.pdf">widely noted</a> that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X11002813">role models</a> play an important part of LGBT people’s wellbeing. Therefore it is a shame that the queer role models championing these affirmative approaches have been pushed out of the picture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78744/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Nicholas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new program for Catholic schools draws on the same research as Safe Schools (so perhaps it wasn’t part of a ‘Marxist agenda’ after all).Lucy Nicholas, Discipline Co-ordinator and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652232016-09-16T01:37:52Z2016-09-16T01:37:52ZCrossroads program: should we teach children that gender identity is fluid? Here’s what the research says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137903/original/image-20160915-30575-1rl75cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Crossroads program teaches children that gender is neither fixed nor binary.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The newly appointed head of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education, Mark Scott, <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjA3PX82pLPAhUM82MKHQk2AKEQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnational-affairs%2Feducation%2Fnew-education-boss-told-to-review-controversial-sexed-course%2Fnews-story%2F9355918a93cd331318e94a75da08c423&usg=AFQjCNGg9rQ21L3S3xOyg8fbEk2JTBbefA&bvm=bv.133178914,bs.2,d.dGo">has called for an investigation</a> into the ways that gender and sexuality are talked about within the Crossroads health education program for Years 11 and 12.</p>
<p>The main concern is the way gender identity is being taught in this program, specifically that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>gender is a ‘social construct’ that is neither fixed nor binary and that sexuality is ‘dynamic’ and ‘constantly changing’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The concern is that these messages do not have a “scientific basis” and are potentially harmful to the students that are receiving them.</p>
<p>While gender and sexual identity are often used interchangeably, these terms are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRcPXtqdKjE">distinctly different</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Gender identity</strong> refers to a person’s personal and internal identification with being male, female, both or neither. </p>
<p><strong>Sexuality</strong>, however, refers to a person’s attraction to others, whether this be physical, emotional or spiritual. </p>
<p>These two things are not always related, and there are countless ways of identifying with both. </p>
<h2>Who is the Crossroads program taught to?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.learning.schools.nsw.edu.au/crossroads/">Crossroads</a> is a NSW-based educational program for Year 11 and 12 students. Its aim is to provide an intensive course that covers personal identity, mental health and wellbeing, relationships, sexuality and sexual health, drugs and alcohol and safe travel. All NSW government secondary schools are required to deliver the program over a minimum of 25 hours. </p>
<p>Like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/safe-schools-coalition-24792">Safe Schools Coalition</a>, the program has been in place for a number of years. However, both of these initiatives have only recently come under scrutiny. </p>
<p>This points to an overarching attack on individuals, groups and institutions that are seeking to redress the oppression felt by those in gender and sexual minorities. </p>
<h2>What does the research say?</h2>
<p>Gender can be understood in three broad ways:</p>
<p><strong>Gender as binary</strong></p>
<p>The first of these is the idea of biological determinism, or “we’re born that way”. </p>
<p>This idea asserts that we are biologically programmed to enact our gender in particular ways. We are either born XX (female) or XY (male), and have definitive and fixed gender and sex roles that align with these characteristics.</p>
<p>Problematically, this theory does not account for the <a href="https://oii.org.au/16601/intersex-numbers/">approximately 1.7%</a> of individuals who are neither XX or XY (intersex), nor for the entirety of the transgender population. </p>
<p>The idea of a “correct” or understandable gender binary has led to around one or two of every 1,000 newborns undergoing surgery to “normalise” the appearance of their genitals. Most of this surgery is <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9781479887040/">cosmetic and rarely medically necessary</a>. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://oii.org.au/30313/intersex-stories-statistics-australia/">independent study</a> of intersex people in Australia found “strong evidence suggesting a pattern of institutionalised shaming and coercive treatment” of these individuals.</p>
<p>This led to poorer physical and emotional health, as well as increased rates of poverty and suicide, and poorer educational experiences and rates of employment. </p>
<p>This evidence demonstrates that the theoretical frame of biological determinism, which so many rely upon to make claims about the “normal” way to be a man or a woman, is flawed and is resulting in damaging outcomes for a section of our community. </p>
<p><strong>Gender as a social construct</strong></p>
<p>The second way that we can understand gender is as socially constructed – children “do what they see” and learn from an early age how to be male and masculine or female and feminine. </p>
<p>As particular behaviours are culturally dominant, these tend to become normalised and replicated. </p>
<p>However, this perspective again cannot account for the fact that some people resist these normative stereotypes and push back against gender norms. </p>
<p>We know from <a href="http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/10.1057/9781137015211">extensive</a> <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137523013">research</a> that those who do not ascribe to the predominant gender norms experience greater levels of violence and harassment. This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/bullying-linked-to-gender-and-sexuality-often-goes-unchecked-in-schools-55639">the most common and least disrupted</a> form of violence in schools. </p>
<p>Bullying such as this serves to normalise particular constructions of gender and polices boundaries – often with a <a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271487">homophobic edge</a>. </p>
<p>This means that although this theory of gender has provided us with additional flexibility for understanding gender relations, it cannot be the theory that encapsulates every possibility.</p>
<p><strong>Gender as a construct of language</strong></p>
<p>Finally, gender can be understood as a construct of language and discourse.</p>
<p>In other words, we apply arbitrary understandings of gender to behaviours and bodies, and these meanings can change across time and space. </p>
<p>This theory asserts that there is no fixed truth about gender (or sexuality); the ways that we refer to gender are simply constructs, reiterations of “common sense” truths. </p>
<p>This theoretical lens rejects the idea that gender and sexuality are static, that people are “born that way”, or are just “doing what they see”. </p>
<p>Instead, it suggests we assign categories to bodies and behaviours and that these categories are powerful in themselves. This theory allows a more complex perspective of gender to develop – one that is not exclusionary. </p>
<p>It rejects that there is any one true way of understanding gender. As such, it is far more applicable and universal than the other theories.</p>
<h2>How useful is the program?</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138008/original/image-20160916-14280-c5m8xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">About 80% of young people will experience or witness gendered violence and harassment at school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137500205">Research</a> tells us that issues around gender, sexuality and diversity remain invisible or only tokenistically addressed (sometimes inaccurately) in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681811.2015.1055721">curricula</a>. </p>
<p>Although sex and relationships education represents a key part of policies to safeguard young people and their sexual health, government guidance is largely outdated. This results in poor-quality programs that are mostly <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/9/e011329">not meeting young people’s needs</a>. </p>
<p>The Crossroads program focuses on challenging and changing the dominant (often essentialist) beliefs, values and expectations around gender and sexuality. </p>
<p>While it does not explicitly name a particular theory of gender in its curriculum, its focus on unpacking social and cultural expectations of gender allows us to presume that it positions gender as a construct of society or of language.</p>
<p>This approach provides students with meaningful and accurate information about gender diversity in order to challenge homophobic and transphobic discrimination. </p>
<p>The program also asks students to consider the ways that gender has influenced their own and others’ identity and relationships (including violence), and the ways that social and cultural pressures have influenced their own gender. </p>
<p>These are crucial questions for young people. About <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/23/4/519.abstract">80% of them</a> will experience or witness gendered (often homophobic or transphobic) violence and harassment at school. They are likely to alter their behaviours to avoid this persecution. </p>
<p>It’s also important to recognise that schools are sites where heterosexuality is constructed as the only expected and “normal” sexuality, as binary (and biological) gender constructions tend to dominate in these contexts. </p>
<p>These environments are damaging for <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/does-safe-schools-work-too-soon-to-tell-20160228-gn62dn.html">all students</a>, reducing their options for various activities, interests and behaviours, <a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271487">lest they be subjected</a> to homophobic or transphobic harassment. </p>
<p>Teaching nuanced and critical understandings of gender is crucial in an environment where LGBTIQ members of the community are <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/bw0258-lgbti-mental-health-and-suicide-2013-2nd-edition.pdf?sfvrsn=2">between six and 15 times</a> (depending on their intersecting identities) more likely to self-harm or attempt suicide than their heterosexual or cisgender – people who have a gender identity that matches the sex that they were assigned at birth – counterparts. </p>
<p>Research has shown that having more conservative attitudes towards gender may link with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/gender-stereotypes-make-teenagers-more-accepting-of-violence-33505">acceptance and promotion of violence</a>. Maintaining and extending the approach of Crossroads to Years K to 10 sex and relationships education is therefore critical if we are to reduce incidents of abuse and harassment in schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Rawlings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Crossroads program provides students with meaningful and accurate information about gender diversity in order to challenge homophobic and transphobic discrimination and violence.Victoria Rawlings, Lecturer in Education, Pedagogy and Sexuality, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/610102016-06-15T20:16:36Z2016-06-15T20:16:36ZOrlando shooting is the latest chapter in the global fight for LGBT rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126638/original/image-20160615-22377-kjdxit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ignoring homophobia makes it impossible to effectively combat it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Erik De Castro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/orlando-shooting.html?_r=0">shooting rampage</a> that left 49 people dead in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, highlights the need for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocates to be constantly vigilant and vocal.</p>
<p>For every advance in LGBT rights that is made in one part of the world, there are extreme regressions elsewhere. </p>
<p>Perhaps this is evidence of Newton’s third law that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Although when it comes to LGBT rights, the reaction is more excessive than equal.</p>
<h2>Global highs and lows</h2>
<p>In May, the number of countries that criminalise homosexual conduct fell from 77 to 75. First the <a href="http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/5198/Seychelles+parliament+passes+bill+to+decriminalize+sodomy">Seychelles</a> reformed its criminal laws, closely followed by <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/marital-rape-no-longer-allowed-and-suicide-homosexuality-decriminalised-at-nauru-20160527-gp586w.html">Nauru</a>.</p>
<p>Also last month, Victoria’s state parliament made a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/gay-men-receive-apology-more-than-30-years-after-homosexuality-decriminalised-20160524-gp2m4o.html">historic apology</a> for laws that once criminalised homosexual conduct, which Premier Daniel Andrews described as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… profoundly and unimaginably wrong.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There was also cause for celebration in April when <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-29/colombia-legalises-same-sex-marriage/7371962">Colombia</a> became the fourth South American country to achieve marriage equality. This followedg a court ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. </p>
<p>There have been setbacks for LGBT rights, though. These include the brutal attack last year on participants in the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33752111">Jerusalem Pride March</a>, which resulted in the death of a 16-year-old girl and the wounding of six others, and the creation of a new offence of “aggravated homosexuality” in Uganda and The Gambia. </p>
<p>However, a court struck down the Ugandan laws <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28605400">as invalid</a>. And three men <a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/08/01/gambian-men-charged-under-anti-gay-law-acquitted/">who were prosecuted</a> last year under the Gambian laws were acquitted.</p>
<p>The situation for trans and gender-diverse persons in the US has been worsening too. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/09/the-legal-fight-over-north-carolinas-transgender-bathroom-law-explained-in-4-questions/">North Carolina</a> recently passed a law that forces trans and gender-diverse persons to use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex recorded on their birth certificate, rather than the gender with which they identify. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding these setbacks, there was a sense of optimism that progress was being made and respect for the rights of LGBT people was, on the whole, improving. That optimism came to a screeching halt this week.</p>
<p>What the Orlando massacre demonstrates very clearly is that legalising same-sex marriage does not mean an end to homophobia. The single largest targeted killing of LGBT people in recent times, recognising that the Nazis killed thousands of gay men and lesbians <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/learning-materials-and-resources/homosexuals-victims-of-the-nazi-era/persecution-of-homosexuals">during the Holocaust</a>, occurred in a country where same-sex couples can wed.</p>
<p>Law reform is one of the most powerful ways of protecting LGBT people’s fundamental human rights, including through <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2468967">decriminalising same-sex sexual conduct</a>, enacting anti-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation and gender identity, <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2536335">legalising same-sex marriage</a> and <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2774018">recognising same-sex families</a>. </p>
<p>But recent events should force a rethink on the notion that having laws that mandate equality for LGBT persons will necessarily lead to that community being able to live lives of dignity, free from discrimination, persecution and violence.</p>
<p>Laws can influence societal values, but they are not enough. We need to change the hearts and minds of those who think LGBT people are perverts. Many had no hesitation in voicing their support for the killer and <a href="http://www.morningnewsusa.com/homophobic-twitter-users-praise-omar-mateen-orlando-shooter-2382741.html">their hatred of gays</a> on social media in the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy.</p>
<h2>The homophobia behind the attack</h2>
<p>Almost as distressing as those who praised the killer are those who refused to acknowledge that this was an attack on the LGBT community, fuelled by homophobia. </p>
<p>Those who failed to acknowledge the sexuality of the victims or the motivation for the crime include the <a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/06/13/the-pope-didnt-even-mention-gay-people-in-his-statement-on-orlando/">pope</a> and New Zealand Prime Minister <a href="http://thespinoff.co.nz/media/14-06-2016/why-wont-john-key-admit-the-orlando-attack-was-a-homophobic-hate-crime/">John Key</a>. </p>
<p>Why did Guardian journalist Owen Jones <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/13/sky-news-homophobia-orlando-sexuality">walk off the set of Sky News</a> when the presenters refused to acknowledge the Orlando attack was an attack on LGBT people? It is because to be silent about this adds insult to injury. It amounts to erasure of LGBT people at the very time when they have been targeted because of their sexual orientation.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ITdjAb3VcE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Journalist Owen Jones walks off the set of Sky News.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can’t fix a problem until we recognise there is a problem. Ignoring homophobia makes it impossible to effectively combat it. We can’t expect to avoid future attacks on LGBT people while homophobia remains one of the last <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/orlando-shooting-pulse-florida-not-attack-on-us-all-owen-jones-homophobic-anti-gay-crime-omar-mateen-a7079221.html">“socially acceptable prejudices to have”</a>.</p>
<p>Australia doesn’t have the same gun control problems as the US, but the LGBT community here is still subjected to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/violence-increasing-newtown-alleged-homophobic-attack-victim/7328142">violent homophobic attacks</a>. The last thing Australians need is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-plebiscite-on-same-sex-marriage-would-be-inconsistent-with-childrens-rights-47375">divisive plebiscite</a> on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, which will embolden opponents to voice their hate and fear of LGBT people. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-14/525-million-price-tag-on-same-sex-marriage-plebiscite-study/7243298">A$525 million</a> estimated cost of having a plebiscite would be far better spent on expanding the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/safe-schools-coalition-australia">Safe Schools</a> program, which aims to reduce bullying and increase respect for LGBT youth, and on government-led campaigns to <a href="http://www.notohomophobia.com.au/">tackle homophobia head-on</a>.</p>
<p>One way we can honour the victims of the Orlando shooting is to significantly amplify our efforts to combat homophobia, so that when we do make advances in protecting the rights of sexual minorities, these are not followed by acts of violence against LGBT people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paula Gerber is president of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation working to protect the rights of LGBTI people in the Asia Pacific region. </span></em></p>For every advance in LGBT rights that is made in one part of the world, there are extreme regressions elsewhere.Paula Gerber, Professor of Human Rights Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/606242016-06-13T20:12:35Z2016-06-13T20:12:35ZAustralian Christian Lobby: the rise and fall of the religious right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126248/original/image-20160613-29216-f9ojmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The political culture of Australia, unlike the United States, frowns on explicit religiosity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-121521157/stock-photo-family-outdoor-quality-time-enjoyment-asian-people-silhouette-during-beautiful-sunrise.html?src=U1rgaGjvVLUb2bvQZnJ_7A-1-57">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>We see their spokespeople quoted in the papers and their ads on TV, but beyond that we know very little about how Australia’s lobby groups get what they want. This series shines a light on the strategies, political alignment and policy platforms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/australian-lobby-groups">eight lobby groups this election campaign</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) was formed in 1995 and rose to great heights after the 2004 federal election when John Howard was re-elected with an increased majority and Family First won a Senate seat. </p>
<p>But from 2013, the ACL’s political influence <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3765154.htm">has notably declined</a>, as Labor began to adopt progressive positions in the culture wars about sexuality and gender. Not only is the ACL losing relevance, it has had to appeal to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to <a href="http://www.letmehaveasay.com">pay attention to the group</a> in the lead-up to the 2016 election. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126404/original/image-20160613-18068-ft47ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rise of the Christian right</h2>
<p>Many observers likened Howard’s 2004 triumph to George Bush’s re-election the same year and concluded that in both countries, conservatives had attracted traditional left voters by campaigning on “values” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060614155613/http://www.backpagesblog.com/weblog/archives/000702.html">such as opposition to same-sex marriage</a>.</p>
<p>Religious conservatives had always been well represented in the Coalition. But after 2004, Labor also sought their endorsement, for the same reasons as the US Democrats hastily inserted “God” into their platform at this time.</p>
<p>To Labor politicians, the ACL presented itself as the voice of an imagined religious and “aspirational” constituency. This made the ACL an effective “lobby”: an organisation capable of exercising influence on both sides of politics.</p>
<p>After 2004, Labor <a href="http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/the_fairytale_of_howards_battlers">internalised the belief</a> that Howard’s success was due to his “values”. </p>
<p>Even after Howard’s career ended, the ACL’s influence rose. Kevin Rudd emphasised his Christianity and the atheist Julia Gillard declared herself a <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national-news/julia-gillard-makes-stand-as-a-social-conservative/story-e6frfkvr-1226025095796">social conservative</a>. Labor opposed same-sex marriage and Rudd, as prime minister, refused to pursue a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-01/australian-christian-lobby-is-not-as-influential-as-some-suggest/7210300">Bill of Rights</a> despite strong support from the legal left.</p>
<h2>Declining influence</h2>
<p>A group that can only appeal to one side of politics is a client group, one trapped with nowhere to go and hence politically ineffective. Trade unions have regressed from a powerful lobby group to a client group of the Labor Party, and in the last few years the ACL has trod a similar path on the other side. </p>
<p>Labor’s shift on sexuality and gender has been remarkably rapid. Support for same-sex marriage is now Labor orthodoxy and state party leaders, such as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, have <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-16/victorian-premier-guarantees-safe-schools-if-federal-funding-cut/7252272">aggressively defended the Safe Schools program</a>. This initiative <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/who-we-are">supports schools</a> “to create safer and more inclusive environments for same-sex-attracted, intersex and gender-diverse students, staff and families”. </p>
<p>In part, this shift reflects sincere conviction – but it is also an attempt by Labor to shore up its left flank against the Greens. </p>
<p>Opponents of marriage equality in Labor ranks now look as irrelevant as traditional socialists in the 1990s. Despite some voters still opposing same-sex marriage, this is now routinely judged by media observers to be <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/chris-kenny/dutton-trump-sherry-sufi-facts-the-first-casualty-of-media-elites-war/news-story/cacfda0f7465c1e6c1cd5f28fe0dc9de">“controversial”</a>. </p>
<h2>Broader policy platforms</h2>
<p>The Christian moral conservatism of the ACL is distant from the anti-Islam concerns of many on the populist right.</p>
<p>For many on the right, Christianity now functions less as a set of doctrinal principles than as a group identity. We’ve seen this in the US, where Donald Trump <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/donald-trump-despite-impieties-wins-hearts-of-evangelical-voters.html">successfully appealed</a> to many nominally evangelical voters. </p>
<p>Back home, under the leadership of Bob Day, Family First now <a href="http://www.familyfirst.org.au">champions property rights and low taxation</a> as its first priority.</p>
<p>The ACL supports <a href="http://www.acl.org.au/jeff_kennett_launches_new_book_making_the_case_of_recognising_indigenous_people">Indigenous constitutional recognition</a> and <a href="http://www.acl.org.au/labor_does_right_thing_on_aid_but_forgets_its_base">increased foreign aid</a>. These policy platforms demonstrate its political independence but are minority positions on the right. As such, the ACL finds itself isolated from many rank-and-file conservatives. </p>
<p>The ACL’s campaign against Safe Schools is an attempt to reboot the organisation, but this lacks the appeal of the anti-Islam cause on the populist right.</p>
<p>The political culture of Australia, unlike the United States, frowns on explicit religiousity. The ACL has, despite its name, largely eschewed old-style Australian Christian conservative arguments for the <a href="https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/06/30/a-review-of-can-you-be-gay-and-christian-by-michael-brown">inherent immorality of homosexuality</a>. It has even been silent on the Queensland government’s plan to equalise the age of consent for anal and vaginal intercourse.</p>
<p>The ACL has sought “secular” and “liberal” arguments against same-sex marriage: that it infringes the right of children to their biological parents. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126260/original/image-20160613-18068-1bh9dq9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshot of the ACL’s ‘Let me have a say’ petition for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.letmehaveasay.com">ACL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But during the current election campaign, the ACL has even downplayed their explicit opposition to same-sex marriage to <a href="http://www.letmehaveasay.com">rally around</a> the Coalition’s policy of a plebiscite on the issue.</p>
<p>The experience of the ACL demonstrates the difficulty of pursuing distinctively religious politics in Australia. A historical parallel would be the Protestant temperance campaigners of earlier generations, the so-called “wowsers”. They have kept <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/do-camberwell-dry-zones-have-lessons-for-our-booze-culture-20150514-gh25m8.html">alcohol out of Camberwell</a> in Victoria, but in the long run provided only one voice in the chorus of conservative opinion.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Read the other articles in The Conversation’s Australian lobby groups series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/australian-lobby-groups">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not only is the Australian Christian Lobby losing relevance, it has had to appeal to Bill Shorten to pay attention to the group in the lead-up to the 2016 election.Geoffrey Robinson, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/603752016-06-02T04:11:51Z2016-06-02T04:11:51ZAcademic freedom and the suspension of Roz Ward<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124916/original/image-20160602-1943-15gcjbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C238%2C179&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roz Ward.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The co-founder of the now-controversial <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-safe-schools-coalition-55018">Safe Schools Coalition</a>, La Trobe academic Roz Ward, has been <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/university-suspends-safe-schools-cofounder-roz-ward-over-facebook-post-20160601-gp9ezu.html">suspended</a> by her university following a Facebook post in which she called the Australian flag racist, and suggested that it be replaced with the socialist red flag. </p>
<p><a href="https://newmatilda.com/2016/06/01/latrobe-suspends-safe-schools-co-founder-and-academic-roz-ward-for-criticising-racist-australian-flag/">New Matilda</a> has reported that La Trobe University’s reasons were as follows. It claims Ward’s conduct had:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a) … Undermined public confidence in the Safe Schools program by undermining public confidence in [her] as a researcher and as a person associated with the Safe Schools program.</p>
<p>b) … Damages the reputation of the Safe Schools program and aligns the Safe Schools program with views which have nothing to do with the program and its message and content.</p>
<p>c) … Has required members of the Victorian Government to take up their time in defending the Safe Schools program, rather than be positive advocates for the Safe Schools program.</p>
<p>d) … Has required senior staff at the University to take up their time in defending the Safe Schools program, rather than be positive advocates for the Safe Schools program or undertake other duties they have.</p>
<p>e) … drawn ([her] colleagues) into the negative publicity around Safe Schools and this has impacted on their ability to continue with their research in a safe environment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Therefore, the suspension is linked to the fact that Ward’s Facebook post was likely to inflame the controversy which was already surrounding the Safe Schools program. Ward’s post has certainly done so, particularly in <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/miranda-devine-marxist-agenda-a-red-flag-for-not-so-safe-schools/news-story/7e1ee74bd8b682f188333828ce5e374e">News Corp outlets</a>. It also prompted <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/jeff-kennett-safe-schools-funding-lost-if-roz-ward-stays/news-story/0aef42a2d0c918d5dc7450683b581f33">Jeff Kennett</a>, chairman of Beyond Blue, to threaten to withdraw Safe Schools funding unless Ward stepped down from the program. </p>
<p>La Trobe’s actions are very troubling for academics. First, Ward was expressing a legitimate political opinion in her post. People are entitled to criticise the political symbol that is the Australian flag. The “racist” tag is attached by some for the same reason that many liken Australia Day with <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/explainer/australia-day-invasion-day-survival-day-whats-name">Invasion Day</a>. Last time I checked it was not unlawful to be a Marxist in this country. </p>
<p>The actual context for the post was that the <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/05/24/victorian-government-apology-welcomed-gay-rights-activists">rainbow flag</a> had been hoisted over the Victorian State Parliament on the day of Premier Daniel Andrews’ apologies for past laws regarding homosexuality. Ward apparently posted a picture of that flag and said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Now we just need to get rid of the racist Australian flag on top of state parliament and get a red one up there and my work is done. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The last words in particular seem to denote some sort of tongue in cheek, indicating that Ward may have been disciplined over a joke.</p>
<p>Academics (and others) must be able to post such opinions without fear of retribution from their employers. Certainly, some find criticism of the Australian flag offensive, but as a society we must surely be able to tolerate such opinions. Ward is referencing debates that are far from closed. In contrast, La Trobe’s reason a) seems to punish Ward for expressing an unpopular opinion. </p>
<p>Second, the reasons apparently given to Ward link her suspension to the fact that she posted the offending comments in the midst of ongoing controversy over Safe Schools. The implication is that Ward should be “extra careful” with what she says due to that controversy. </p>
<p>La Trobe’s reason b) seems to be requiring Ward to confine her expressed opinions to issues relating to Safe Schools. After all, the offending Facebook post does not explicitly “align” Safe Schools with any point of view.</p>
<p>Reasons c) and d) discipline Ward because the renewed controversy meant that more time was expended on defence of Safe Schools by prominent defenders of the program, namely La Trobe and the Victorian government. </p>
<p>The logic in this reasoning seems to require staff to steer clear of controversy, lest the “time” of very important people in government and the University be wasted.</p>
<p>Most intriguing of all is reason e), indicating that Ward’s post has prompted a backlash against her Safe School colleagues, therefore impacting on their “ability to continue with their research in a safe environment”.</p>
<p>The Safe Schools controversy has been running for months, stoked by News Corp and some occasionally wild commentary from public figures. Senator <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-16/george-christensen-links-safe-schools-program-to-paedophilia/7252476">George Christensen</a> linked the program to paedophilia. In the last week, Australian Christian Lobby head Lyle Shelton likened Safe Schools to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/australian-christian-lobby-likens-gay-marriage-and-safe-schools-to-unthinkable-nazi-atrocities-20160531-gp8ff2.html">Nazi atrocities</a>.</p>
<p>Such hateful commentary is indeed likely to prompt threats and harassment of people associated with Safe Schools, presumably including Ward herself. In that environment, it seems La Trobe is saying that Ward’s post irresponsibly exposed her colleagues (and herself) to even more threats and harassment.</p>
<p>If so, Ward is essentially being told not to “poke the bear” or “inflame the situation”. Of course, such courses of action can lead to unpleasant consequences. </p>
<p>It is possible that the controversy over Ward’s Facebook post has led to unpleasant interactions for her colleagues. But if one believes (as I do) that her original post was unworthy of disciplinary action by her employer, it cannot be turned into an offence worthy of suspension by the anticipation of blatantly unreasonable reactions from others, namely those who are harassing her colleagues. That makes the mob the ruler. It is blaming the victim. </p>
<p>It is possibly ceding the ground of debate over Safe Schools, putting it forever on defence. After all, it is likely that any public comment by Ward on Safe Schools might have “inflamed” the situation.</p>
<p>It is ironic that social media, which seems to hold such promise as a tool for boosting free speech, has apparently led to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/sbs-sports-reporter-scott-mcintyre-sacked-after-malcolm-turnbull-intervention-court-to-hear-20151012-gk71hd.html">greater consequences for speaking</a>. </p>
<p>Social media reveals one’s speech to more people, and provides a record of what one has said. It is a shame, however, that the greater exposure of people’s speech seems to have led to greater intolerance of what is said, rather than a greater willingness and ability to debate things that one disagrees with.</p>
<p>Universities, in particular, must not overreact to backlashes against controversial opinions. And this must be true of both “left-wing” and “right-wing” opinions. Universities must remain bastions of robust debate. In that regard, I applaud the University of Melbourne for its <a href="http://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1224">explicit policy</a> on Academic Freedom of Expression. It includes the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The university] recognises also that scholars are entitled to express their ideas and opinions even when doing so may cause offence. These principles apply to all activities in which scholars express their views both inside and outside the university.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This incident sends a chill through Australian academia. It is ironic that the safety of Ward’s colleagues is cited as a reason for her suspension. I find it difficult to believe that La Trobe academics feel “safer” because one of their colleagues has been suspended over a political opinion expressed on a Facebook post.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60375/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Roz Ward’s suspension by her university should send a chill through Australian academia.Sarah Joseph, Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/563472016-03-20T19:28:25Z2016-03-20T19:28:25ZFear and loathing reigns in Safe Schools and same-sex marriage debates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115556/original/image-20160318-16353-1u4z0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">LNP MP George Christensen has been vociferous in his opposition to the Safe Schools program.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Arguments around sexual diversity dominated the final week of the last parliamentary session before the budget, with bitter divisions over same-sex marriage and the Safe Schools Coalition.</p>
<p>Homosexuality – and transgender – has become a proxy for two equally bitter contests. One is Labor’s determination to prevent the Greens’ rise as a significant third force in Australian politics. The other is for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-liberal-leading-the-liberals-can-turnbull-manage-the-ultra-conservatives-53976">soul of the Liberal Party</a>, a larger conflict than that between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the bitter camp of Abbott exiles.</p>
<p>Everyone but the religious Right, I suspect, is sick of the same-sex marriage debate. Public opinion polls have <a href="http://www.samesame.com.au/news/13460/New-poll-shows-Australian-support-for-marriage-equality-remains-strong">made clear</a> that most Australians believe the law should be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry. Even some conservative politicians <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/27/eric-abetz-coalition-mps-will-not-be-bound-by-plebiscite-on-marriage-equality">have said</a> they think a plebiscite is a waste of time and money.</p>
<p>Yet the debate continues. Every political faction is determined to wring whatever mileage they can from the issue. The Right won one victory this week: Senate manoeuvres resulted the same-sex marriage bill being put on a back-burner for the time being. </p>
<p>This further inflamed bitterness between Labor and the Greens. Each is crying foul over procedural manoeuvres designed to suggest they oppose same-sex marriage, when the real battle is for numbers in the Senate.</p>
<p>Australia is not unique in having long and acrimonious debates around same-sex marriage. The <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf">US Supreme Court decision</a> last year that same-sex marriage could not be denied on constitutional grounds followed almost two decades of bitter state-level campaigns. Ireland <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34810598">changed its laws</a> following a constitutional referendum. In France support for and opposition to same-sex marriage brought hundreds of thousands <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34810598">onto the streets</a>.</p>
<p>Nothing other than internal government politics prevents parliament amending the Marriage Act to allow for same-sex marriage. The <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/senator-joe-bullock-quits-citing-labors-support-for-homosexual-marriage-20160301-gn7ugj.html">resignation of Labor senator Joe Bullock</a> was a dramatic acknowledgement that a Labor government would do exactly that.</p>
<p>Every political party has champions of same-sex marriage vying to win credit for this change. Within the Liberal Party same-sex marriage has become a proxy for a battle between social conservatives and progressives, the former including most of Tony Abbott’s diehard supporters.</p>
<p>A plebiscite is a bad idea for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-plebiscite-on-same-sex-marriage-would-be-a-failure-of-parliaments-responsibility-55289">number of reasons</a>. Not only is it wasteful, unnecessary and divisive, but a plebiscite on same-sex marriage will hold back the referendum on Indigenous recognition that is required for constitutional change.</p>
<p>Now that several government MPs have indicated they would not feel bound by the results of a plebiscite, Turnbull has the opportunity to ask the partyroom to revisit the decision and support a free vote. He might gently remind them that abrogating their obligation to legislate is an extraordinary breach of the Westminster tradition on which liberals so pride themselves.</p>
<p>Inevitably the marriage debate has become entangled with another push from conservative parliamentarians – the Safe Schools program, which is aimed at teaching children about sexual and <a href="https://theconversation.com/safe-schools-coalition-what-is-the-christian-right-afraid-of-55296">gender diversity</a>.</p>
<p>The conservatives asked for a review of the program. Having had one that appeared as though it wouldn’t satisfy them, they redoubled their attacks in the hope of having the program scrapped. LNP MP George Christensen, a key agitator, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/safe-schools-program-federal-government-unveils-changes/news-story/ce2d4751b2068f6b3ecedede317954fd">said</a> he was “surprised” that the government’s response to the review went as far as it did; the changes would “gut the program of all of the concerning content”.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most serious change is the requirement for parental consent, which means those kids questioning their sexuality or gender identity who come from unsupportive families are likely to miss out on the very program that might help them deal with their anxieties.</p>
<p>The hyperbole around these attacks, led by Christensen (who has a history of inflaming public debate and has been accused of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-16/christensen-to-speak-at-mackay-reclaim-australia-rally/6625188">racist</a> and <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-state-election-2015/qld-election-2015-george-christensen-posts-cartoon-of-naked-annastacia-palaszczuk-20150127-12zifb.html">sexist behaviour</a>), stems from a mixture of political opportunism and deep fears around changing sexual and gender norms.</p>
<p>The opportunism is obvious. Fearmongering, whether against queers or Muslims, is a preferred tactic of the Liberal rump, which increasingly resembles the exiled Stuarts dreaming of a return to the throne. A couple of incautious comments by people connected with Safe Schools gave them ammunition enough to create doubt among many of their colleagues.</p>
<p>The current polarisation around queer issues echoes the international debates, where it becomes impossible to engage in discussion without resort to <a href="https://theconversation.com/queer-wars-the-best-place-to-start-promoting-gay-rights-is-at-home-55747">name-calling</a>. Thus former human rights commissioner Tim Wilson, who on Saturday won Liberal pre-selection for the seat of Goldstein, was attacked viciously for defending Safe Schools in a leaflet that <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/dirt-sheet-smears-gay-libs-candidate-tim-wilson/news-story/0276b411a1e0826d8dd976bc4796830c">clearly distorted his views</a>.</p>
<p>The weekend papers were also a good indication of how viciously this campaign is being fought. The Weekend Australian ran a <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/scepticism-as-survey-doubles-teen-samesex-attraction/news-story/b019af5a305c46f01ef470a6b34163e7">front page attack</a> on the research underlying the program, in which it quoted as its major authority James Athanasou, an associate professor in rehabilitation counselling. The Australian’s report points to differences between figures for same-sex attraction in various studies, but fails to distinguish between attraction and identity, a basic argument in the 2013 <a href="http://www.ashr.edu.au">Australian Study of Health and Relationships</a> which the reporter accepts as definitive.</p>
<p>Politicians and the media are both responsible for the debate’s polarisation. The Murdoch press has delighted in exaggerated and sensational reports about the program. Even the ABC’s Q&A program has <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/qa-lyle-shelton-and-kerryn-phelps-clash-on-samesex-marriage-and-safe-schools-program-20160301-gn6v7a.html">given considerable airtime</a> to the most extreme opponents of same-sex marriage, rather than seeking out people who have genuine concerns but are equally conscious of homophobic and transphobic abuse.</p>
<p>Many in the queer community fear a plebiscite will unleash the sort of vituperation and threats that have been apparent in the reaction to the Safe Schools controversy. Turnbull <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/pm-should-reprimand-homophobic-mp/news-story/1438636056250f22af30c6e73067bdf4">called on</a> all MPs to be measured and:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… to consider very carefully the impact of the words they use on young people and on their families.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unless he holds his own supporters to account there is little chance of a sensible debate on any of these issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Altman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The damaging polarisation around queer issues in Australian politics is out of step with community sentiment.Dennis Altman, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/564252016-03-18T05:27:05Z2016-03-18T05:27:05ZSafe Schools review findings: experts respond<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115540/original/image-20160318-3189-1wjclox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many claim the Safe Schools program is essential for reducing homophobia and transphobia in school.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>After a three-week debacle, the findings of the review into the opt-in <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-safe-schools-coalition-55018">Safe Schools Coalition</a> program are out.</em></p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review_of_appropriateness_and_efficacy_of_the_ssca_program_resources.pdf">review has proposed</a> to limit the anti-bullying program to secondary schools only.</em> </p>
<p><em>Education Minister Simon Birmingham said:</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will be making it clear that the program resources are fit for delivery in secondary school environments only.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>It found that a number of the resources had lessons and content not necessarily appropriate for all children and has called for schools to seek parental consent for student participation in program lessons or activities.</em></p>
<p><em>Over the past week, Nationals MP George Christensen and other backbenchers have voiced their concerns over how the review was conducted. A petition – which went <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/safe-schools-petition-goes-missing-as-conservative-push-fractures-turnbull-frontbench-20160317-gnl66o.html">missing</a> for a period of time – has reportedly been <a href="http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/03/18/03/38/malcolm-turnbull-receives-petition-against-safe-schools">handed to the prime minister</a> and signed by 43 of 81 backbenchers. It calls for Safe Schools funding to be suspended until a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/safe-schools-petition-goes-missing-as-conservative-push-fractures-turnbull-frontbench-20160317-gnl66o.html">“full-blown” parliamentary inquiry</a> is held.</em></p>
<p><em>The review’s also caused fractures in the government’s frontbench. While former prime minister <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2016/03/17/mps-back-push-to-cut-safe-schools-funding.html">Tony Abbott</a> has called for the program to be scrapped, former education minister <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-17/safe-schools-should-not-be-scrapped-christopher-pyne-says/7253744">Christopher Pyne</a> has said it should stay.</em> </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"710249929994674176"}"></div></p>
<p><em>Since the announcement of the review, a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/11/safe-schools-32-more-schools-sign-up-and-only-one-leaves-after-furore?CMP=share_btn_tw">Guardian investigation</a> found that 32 more schools had signed up to the program, while only one school had withdrawn.</em></p>
<p><em>So what do academic experts make of the review? We ask what these findings mean for schools and their students.</em> </p>
<hr>
<h2>Calling sexual and gender diversity ‘contentious’ further marginalises students</h2>
<p><em>Lucy Nicholas, lecturer in sociology, Swinburne University of Technology, says:</em></p>
<p>While white, <a href="http://time.com/3636430/cisgender-definition/">cisgender</a>, heterosexual male politicians are quibbling over whether or not we should “expose” young people to the term “pansexual” in a minute optional resource in an opt-in school program, young people have <a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/03/11/less-than-half-of-americas-youth-are-straight-new-survey-finds/">never been queerer</a>. And, in some <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/miley-cyrus-comes-out-pansexual_us_55e05c7be4b0aec9f352d9f4?section=australia">segments of youth culture</a>, unlike in Australian schools, this has never been less of a problem. </p>
<p>The government will now require “parental consent for student participation in programme lessons or activities”. This will only foster a school culture of silence that perpetuates the implication that these identities (which - did I mention? - exist) are what the review calls “contentious”, maintaining the construction of them as deviant and contributing to an environment where bullying on this basis is normalised. </p>
<p>This framing of the issue will make a culture where it is even less likely for questioning students to go to their “key qualified staff” member who, following the review, the government has insisted will be their only access point to the <em>OMG I’m Queer</em>, <em>OMG My Friend’s Queer</em> and <em>Stand Out</em> resources.</p>
<p>The silence, denial and repression approach didn’t work for sex education, and it isn’t going to work for the safety of sexual and gender diverse students in schools either. </p>
<p>The idea that the materials are “a <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/safe-schools-coalition-mps-label-review-a-joke-storm-out-of-briefing/news-story/4a1b1726f14d02366517c85dc50ab050">gateway drug</a> for children to experiment with sex” and “prematurely sexualises” them is wildly out of touch with <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bw0268-from-blues-to-rainbows-report-final-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2">social change</a>.</p>
<p>It just means that we are prolonging the time until sexual and gender diverse young people can find out that their feelings are normal, which they will undoubtedly do on the internet, and if they are lucky find a community in which to come to terms with their identity in safe, supported contexts. It is a shame that can’t be school. </p>
<h2>The review lets faith-based schools off the hook</h2>
<p><em>Timothy Jones, senior lecturer in history at La Trobe University, says:</em></p>
<p>The most critical findings of the Safe Schools Coalition were that some resources “may not be suitable for use in some faith-based schools”. </p>
<p>These resources contain stories about how young people of faith reconciled <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/uploads/1c319a8803b891fac1c455e6b87affa6.pdf">their own</a> or <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/uploads/d82dbcaf5e76d8e1c8b52799ace021ca.pdf">their friends’</a> same-sex attraction. They also recommend setting up a “diversity group” within a religious school that “promotes the acceptance of all students (including those who are gender diverse, intersex or same sex attracted)”.</p>
<p>It <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/uploads/67bcaee23b6cd8036e402aa33e4e4490.pdf">recognises </a>that for some, “a negative religious belief about homosexuality may never change”, but concludes that “everyone from every religion can agree that we all should have the right to be healthy and happy, so challenging homophobia and transphobia is about achieving that shared aim”. </p>
<p>The review of the official Safe Schools resource also found that exercises designed to help students think about how to be an ally to peers with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities “might be more difficult for students from a family with conservative social or religious views on same-sex attraction”. But it rightly concludes that these exercises are consistent with the Australian Curriculum requirement to affirm diversity and acknowledge the impact of diversity on students’ social words. </p>
<p>As the hysterical tone of the controversy over the past few weeks has shown, the negotiation of religious, sexual, and gender difference is difficult. But rather than letting faith-based schools off the hook, surely we should be working harder to make these spaces safe for all children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115563/original/image-20160318-16356-iq4o7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Education Minister Simon Birmingham said that Safe Schools resources should be limited to secondary schools only.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Safe Schools materials shouldn’t be limited to secondary schools</h2>
<p><em>David Rhodes, senior lecturer in the School of Education, at Edith Cowan University, says:</em></p>
<p>Child and adolescent sexuality, particularly same-sex attraction and gender diversity, are often considered extremely difficult subjects to discuss, especially in classroom contexts. It is considered a taboo <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-16/mp-george-christensen-walks-through-parliament-house/7251022">by some</a>.</p>
<p>However, a wide range of educators, politicians, and <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/uploads/c6b7f8dd9a24da1dad7b00c590faa0e8.pdf">researchers</a> reinforce the importance of incorporating issues related to sexual and gender diversity into schools and the curriculum.</p>
<p>Young people are disclosing their sexuality at increasingly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/15/gay-people-coming-out-younger-age">younger ages</a>.
Changing conditions in schools, providing support services for students, and the provision of professional development for pre-service and practising teachers which include sexual diversity, are all important factors in recognising the vulnerability of LGBTQI children and providing safe <a href="http://www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/downloads/arcshs-research-publications/WTi3.pdf">educational environments</a>.</p>
<p>Limiting use of Safe Schools resources and materials to secondary schools, should not include primary school teacher’s professional development. It is essential that teachers have an understanding of issues related to sexual and gender diversity, have an awareness of appropriate language, and feel empowered to challenge homophobic and transphobic bullying.</p>
<p>The epithets of “dyke” and “faggot” are not limited to secondary classrooms. Principals and parent organisations should be able to advocate for the use of Safe Schools Coalition materials to be used in our primary schools if they deem it appropriate to their school context. Sexuality and gender identity do not appear out of the ether in Year 7. </p>
<h2>This whole debate suggests there is something deviant about diverse sexual identities</h2>
<p><em>Victoria Rawlings, lecturer in education, pedagogy and sexuality at the University of Sydney, says:</em></p>
<p>Much of the debate relating to Safe Schools so far has included commentators explicitly or implicitly suggesting that young people require protection from the concepts that the program raises. </p>
<p>The discourses that suggest that the program is dangerous or problematic fail to recognise that young people are exposed to a vast amount of content and navigate this in various ways in their day-to-day lives. </p>
<p>This argument also suggests that there is something particularly deviant or worrying about diverse sexual identities or gender identities, when we know that this is not the case.</p>
<p>Much of what the Safe Schools Coalition aims to achieve relates to the whole school culture. While some of this includes lesson plans, this is just one aspect of the program. The remainder includes contextual approaches to reducing homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, and encouraging a school culture that is more inclusive of any difference and diversity.</p>
<p>In terms of actual lesson plans, these are based around the <em>All Of Us</em> resource, which has received much of the brunt of recent criticism of the program. This resource contains plans for eight lessons that explore school culture and sexual and gender diversity in years seven and eight. In his report, Bill Louden found that these lessons were consistent with the aims of the program, the national curriculum and were suitable, educationally sound and age-appropriate.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>We’re keen to hear your opinions on the review findings. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy W. Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Research Theology Foundation Incorporated. Safe Schools Coalition Victoria was originally a joint initiative of the Foundation for Young Australians and Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria. Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria is funded by the Victorian government and sits within the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rhodes, Lucy Nicholas, and Victoria Rawlings do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After a three-week debacle, the findings of the review into the Safe Schools Coalition program are out. Here’s what academic experts make of the review.David Rhodes, Senior Lecturer School of Education, Edith Cowan UniversityLucy Nicholas, Discipline Co-ordinator and Lecturer in Sociology, Swinburne University of TechnologyTimothy W. Jones, Senior Lecturer in History, La Trobe UniversityVictoria Rawlings, Lecturer in Education, Pedagogy and Sexuality, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/564262016-03-17T19:21:22Z2016-03-17T19:21:22ZGrattan on Friday: Turnbull’s double-dissolution hand could be strengthened by final pitch to crossbench<p>What might be Malcolm Turnbull’s worst nightmare, apart from losing the election? Scraping back as a minority government, with Tony Windsor in balance of power.</p>
<p>Just joking.</p>
<p>One can pretty confidently predict Turnbull won’t become a repeat of Julia Gillard. Depending on which poll you prefer, he’s at worst 50-50 (Newspoll, with Labor on a low 35% primary vote – a likely narrow Coalition win), or 53-47% (Fairfax-Ipsos, a good win). The Conversation’s polling expert Adrian Beaumont says Labor probably needs at least 51% of the two-party vote for victory.</p>
<p>On both the polls and bipartisan opinions, the election outcome is currently not seen as being in much doubt. The voters, who for years flagged they wanted Turnbull as prime minister, are not likely to be over him any time soon. Despite a decline in his personal ratings, he has a big reservoir of popularity, although Tony Mitchelmore, from Visibility, which does qualitative research, reports from his focus group work that “the narrative on the prime minister has changed. A lot of swinging voters are saying he doesn’t seem to be doing anything.”</p>
<p>What this election will really be about for Turnbull is the size of his post-election majority. If Turnbull sweeps back to power, it could be an interesting ride. But Labor is hopeful that it can significantly cut into his numbers.</p>
<p>That would put him in serious difficulties, given the conservatives on his backbench. We’ve seen over recent months what they can do. Now they are running a ferocious campaign against the Safe Schools program, with a petition of more than 40 Coalition signatures calling for a parliamentary inquiry. Imagine what they’d try on a re-elected but weakened prime minister.</p>
<p>At this week’s end of the autumn session, Turnbull will have one big legislative achievement – a new Senate voting system, thanks to a deal of mutual convenience with the Greens.</p>
<p>The way is cleared for a July 2 double dissolution, if Turnbull wants to bite the bullet. This has become the general expectation.</p>
<p>Significant hurdles remain but they are not impossible, including bringing the budget forward and getting supply through in time.</p>
<p>The reason for a double dissolution would be to clean out pesky Senate crossbenchers. But just what a new Senate crossbench would look like could actually be a bit of a lottery, according to modelling provided by the Parliamentary Library to a Labor MP this week. </p>
<p>The modelling calculated post-double-dissoution numbers under the new system if people voted as they did in 2013. It found that compared with the present eight non-Green crossbenchers, there could be as many as 11. While for various reasons such modelling has to be taken with a very large grain of salt, the pertinent point is that the outcome of the voting change can’t be precisely predicted, especially in a double dissolution.</p>
<p>While trying to thin out the crossbench would be the real reason for a double dissolution, the main justification that has been put is the Senate’s refusal to pass the government’s industrial relations legislation – bills to reconstitute the Australian Building and Construction Commission and to toughen union governance. A week ago Turnbull suggested if this legislation was passed he would back off.</p>
<p>This may be just a convenient line – Turnbull may be set on a double dissolution regardless. But his political case would be strengthened if he made a serious final effort to herd the crossbench on these issues.</p>
<p>In the next few weeks, they should be invited to meet government negotiators to explore whether agreement could be reached. If nothing came of the attempt, Turnbull would have strongly reinforced his double dissolution argument.</p>
<p>If they caved he would indeed have to retreat. He may not want to take the risk.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as it moves towards the election, the government’s tax package – to be at the heart of its pitch – shrank further this week, as Treasurer Scott Morrison threw cold water on the prospect of personal income tax cuts, pointing rather to company tax relief.</p>
<p>In just a few months the plan has gone from the prospect of a once-in-a-generation reform with a major tax mix switch – higher GST, income tax cuts to address bracket creep, plus changes to superannuation and negative gearing – to a modest package focused on superannuation, a company tax cut, and higher cigarette tax.</p>
<p>The scaled down package will be cast as promoting “growth and jobs”, but how much voter appeal will it have?</p>
<p>The progressive retreat on personal income tax cuts – though said not to be absolutely off the table – came because the GST trade-off would not have spurred growth, and there is no other revenue available to adequately pay for them.</p>
<p>At the election there will not be the once anticipated clear contrast between a government pledging significant personal tax cuts and an opposition promising spending on education and health programs financed by some tax hikes.</p>
<p>But on another front the present plan sharpens the difference with Labor. Having apparently put aside changes to negative gearing, the government is leaving itself freer to attack the ALP’s radical initiative in that area.</p>
<p>This week’s Fairfax-Ipsos poll showed 42% against limiting concessions for negative gearing; 34% in favour and about one in four people undecided. These figures underline Labor’s risk of this ending up a very difficult issue for it under a sustained government fear campaign.</p>
<iframe id="audio_iframe" src="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/ve99p-5d9281?from=yiiadmin" data-link="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/ve99p-5d9281?from=yiiadmin" height="100" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What might be Malcolm Turnbull’s worst nightmare, apart from losing the election? Scraping back as a minority government, with Tony Windsor in balance of power.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/555732016-03-04T05:06:57Z2016-03-04T05:06:57ZFactCheck Q&A: was Lyle Shelton right about transgender people and a higher suicide risk after surgery?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113660/original/image-20160303-10389-1b5g3s8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian Christian Lobby's Lyle Shelton, speaking on Q&A.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
<hr>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2GfIFKigo90?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&A, February 29, 2016.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>Studies that have been done of transgendered people who have had sex reassignment surgery, people who have been followed for 20 or so years have found that after 10 years from the surgery, that their suicide mortality rate was actually 20 times higher than the non-transgendered population. So I’m very concerned that here we are encouraging young people to do things to their bodies … like chest binding for young girls … [and] penis tucking … Now this is taking kids on a trajectory that may well cause them to want to take radical action, such as gender reassignment surgery… <strong>– Lyle Shelton, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, speaking on Q&A on February 29, 2016.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Australia’s <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/">Safe Schools Coalition</a> program has been accused of <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/government-and-teacher-union-hypocrisy-as-lgbti-agenda-plugged-in-schools-20160208-gmp18h.html">“promoting a radical view of gender and sexuality”</a> in schools. </p>
<p>The program’s architects say it aims to boost acceptance of same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, staff and families.</p>
<p>Critics have said that the program directs children to groups such as <a href="https://minus18.org.au/">Minus18</a>, a youth-led network for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. Among the resources on Minus18’s website is <a href="http://minus18.org.au/omgit/omgit-web.pdf">information about appearance modification</a> for transgender people such as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Changing your appearance is another way you can express your gender. Things like makeup, the clothes or school uniform you wear, binding your chest, tucking/packing your pants, or the way you do your hair can all help you better express yourself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Speaking on Q&A, the Australian Christian Lobby’s Lyle Shelton stressed that respect is essential and that no one should be bullied at school. He said that in Victoria, the <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/advicehomophobia.aspx">Bully Stoppers program does address homophobic bullying</a>.</p>
<p>However, Shelton said he would prefer anti-bullying programs didn’t include “contested gender ideology” that may lead to gender reassignment surgery.</p>
<p>He also said research showed that people who had undergone sex reassignment surgery were 20 times more likely to suicide than the general population a decade after their surgery.</p>
<p>Let’s take a closer look at what the research says.</p>
<h2>Checking the research</h2>
<p>Shelton did not respond to The Conversation’s request for comment and clarification. However, later in the program he referred to a Swedish study of over 300 people over about 30 years between 1973 and about 2003 that found that the suicide mortality rate was 20 times higher than the non transgendered population – so it seems likely he is referring to a 2011 <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885">published in the journal PLOS ONE</a>.</p>
<p>That study, led by researcher Cecilia Dhejne, tracked 324 sex-reassigned people in Sweden between 1973 and 2003 to estimate their mortality, morbidity, and criminal rate after surgery. The researchers also included a comparison group. In that group, for every transgender person studied, the researchers included a non-transgendered person the same age and the same sex as the transgender person was before surgery.</p>
<p>The researchers found that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The authors did not find that surgery was the <em>cause</em> of increased suicide risk, writing in their paper that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the results should not be interpreted such as sex reassignment <em>per se</em> increases morbidity and mortality. Things might have been even worse without sex reassignment.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why are post-surgery transgender people at higher risk of suicide than the general population?</h2>
<p>It is possible that Shelton was <em>not</em> implying any causal relationship between sex reassignment surgery and a higher suicide risk. The Conversation asked him to clarify what he wanted to convey by mentioning the study, but he did not reply.</p>
<p>It is also possible some viewers may have been left with the impression that the study showed sex reassignment surgery causes a higher risk of suicide later in life. That is not the case.</p>
<p>The Conversation asked the authors of that study how they felt about the way Shelton had represented their findings. One of the authors, Mikael Landén from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institutet medical university, told The Conversation that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As Mr Shelton phrases it, it may sound as if sex reassignment increased suicide risk 20 times. That is not the case. The risk of suicide was increased 19 times compared to the general population, but that is because gender dysphoria is a distressing condition in itself. Our study does not inform us whether sex reassignment decreases (which is likely) or increases (which is unlikely) that risk.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When asked why people who have had sex reassignment surgery may be more prone than the general population to suicide later in life, Landén said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Gender dysphoria is a distressing condition. We have known for a long time that it is associated with other psychiatric disorders (such as depression) and increased rate of suicide attempts. Sex reassignment is the preferred treatment and outcome studies suggest that gender dysphoria (the main symptom) decreases. But it goes without saying that the procedure is a stressful life event. And that the surgery and medical treatment is not perfect. It is thus not surprising that this group of patients will continue to suffer from stress-related psychiatric disorders. There might be lingering professional and relational problems. It is also possible (but unproven) that gender dysphoria is somehow etiologically related to depression. In that case, fixing the first with a cure would not automatically fix the latter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As some Q&A viewers, including <a href="https://twitter.com/BayneMacGregor/status/704550937914789889">@BayneMacGregor,</a> pointed out on Twitter as the program aired, the lead author of the study has been asked about this before. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"704550937914789889"}"></div></p>
<p>In November 2015, Cecilia Dhejne told the website <a href="http://www.transadvocate.com/fact-check-study-shows-transition-makes-trans-people-suicidal_n_15483.htm">The TransAdvocate</a> that, “Medical transition alone won’t resolve the effects of crushing social oppression: social anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress.”</p>
<p>(Dhejne also confirmed to The Conversation that the transcript of her interview on <a href="http://www.transadvocate.com/fact-check-study-shows-transition-makes-trans-people-suicidal_n_15483.htm">The TransAdvocate</a> website is accurate).</p>
<h2>What does other research say?</h2>
<p>Recent literature reviews, including a literature review colleagues and I conducted reviewing Australian literature until the end of 2012, found a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25569508">greater prevalence</a> of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21213174">suicidal behaviours</a> among <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24847996">sexual minorities</a> in general. </p>
<p>Risk factors for suicidal behaviours specific to LGBTI people include “coming out” in adolescence and early adulthood, prejudice, discrimination, shame, hostility, and self-hatred. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26329283">review</a> of literature focused on suicidal behaviours – including suicidal thought, suicide attempts and suicide rates – among trans people (the term used by the authors of that review) between 1966 and April 2015. The authors concluded that the prevalence of suicidal behaviours differs depending on the different stages of transition, but they are still overall greater than the general population.</p>
<p>A 2011 Dutch study found that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21266549">male-to-female transsexuals</a> had a risk of suicide 5.7 times higher than the general population.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21266549">suicide risk was found not to be significantly higher</a> in female-to-male transsexuals compared to the general population in an 18 year follow-up of 996 male-to-female and 365 female-to-male transexuals.</p>
<p>Again, those studies do not indicate the cause of increased suicide risk. </p>
<p>It’s possible that a number of other lifestyle factors, combined with lack of social support, discrimination and stigmatisation <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26329283">increase the risk</a> of suicidal behaviour in the trans population.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Shelton was correct to say that research shows that transgendered people who have had sex reassignment surgery had a suicide mortality rate later in life that was roughly 20 times higher than the non-transgendered population.</p>
<p>However, it is also possible some viewers may have been left with the impression that the study showed sex reassignment surgery <em>causes</em> a higher risk of suicide later in life. That is not what the Swedish study showed. In fact, the researchers wrote that things might have been even worse without sex reassignment. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, there is lack of research on the topic and his comment appears to be based on one study from Sweden. <strong>– Kairi Kõlves</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This FactCheck a good overview of the current research literature. It looks at both international literature on suicide risk and suicidal behaviours in sexual minority populations and, importantly, results of Australian studies. </p>
<p>Three conclusions spring to mind. First, we still have limited insight into the actual causes of the increased suicide risk in the sexual minority groups. Secondly, we need more Australian studies on suicide in the transgender people, ideally designed in close collaboration with people with the lived experience of suicidality. Last, we should remember that despite the higher statistical risk, the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-012-0056-y">majority of transgender people do not attempt suicide or die by suicide</a>.</p>
<p>A better understanding of resilience and protective factors could significantly contribute to improved quality of life and well-being. <strong>– Karolina Krysinska</strong></p>
<hr>
<p>• <a href="http://www.lifeline.org.au">Lifeline</a> 13 11 14
• <a href="http://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au">Suicide Call Back Service</a> 1300 659 467</p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kairi Kõlves receives funding from the Australian Research Council (currently ARC DP14012567, ARC LP120100021); Commonwealth Department of Health; beyondblue (2013-2015 project Fatal Suicidal Behaviours in LGBT Populations).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karolina Krysinska does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian Christian Lobby’s Lyle Shelton said he was concerned about body modification, gender reassignment surgery and future suicide risk. We check the research.Kairi Kõlves, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/541142016-03-03T03:14:49Z2016-03-03T03:14:49ZDoes Australia need a Queer History Month?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113650/original/image-20160303-10377-1scds9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Queer history is celebrated in the United States, so why not Australia?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ronald Woan</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past few weeks, there have been <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/the-responsible-thing-malcolm-turnbull-defends-safe-schools-review-20160301-gn7c65.html">heated discussions</a> around what people learn about sexuality and gender at school. In some ways it has reminded me of the 1970s moral panic that occurred after the publication of <a href="http://dehanz.net.au/entries/young-gay-proud-1978/">Young, Gay and Proud</a> (written by the Melbourne-based Gay Teachers and Students Group). That was almost 40 years ago. </p>
<p>When I think back to my experiences of sex ed at school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I don’t remember it being very helpful. At primary school, my teacher told us that if we ate a lot of beetroot our urine might turn red, but that we shouldn’t be alarmed because that would be normal.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113653/original/image-20160303-10366-1fq8gfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baffling sexual education is a rite of passage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In high school, they tried to teach us about the <a href="http://contraception.about.com/od/naturalmethods/f/billings.htm">Billings Method</a>. But it was hard to make sense of it all given that we hadn’t yet been taught much about menstruation or conception. It did, however, introduce me to some lavish new words (“viscosity”, anyone?) That was more or less all the formal sex ed I can remember. </p>
<p>Of course, I am not alone. Experiencing obscure sex ed is almost as much a rite of passage as sex itself. Historically, schools haven’t been great at teaching people sex ed, and, of course, they have struggled even more to offer relevant education to LGBTI students. </p>
<p>Often, people have sought to remedy this problem by arguing that diverse experiences of gender and sexuality need to be addressed in schools as <a href="http://www.acara.edu.au/news_media/news_archive/news_archive_(all).html">part of the health curriculum</a> (e.g. sexual health, mental health, anti-bullying, suicide prevention). </p>
<p>But what is striking about the recent discussions in relation to Safe Schools is how they are situated in a long history of anxieties about young people, schooling, gender and sexuality, although this history is seldom actively discussed. </p>
<p>For example, it is interesting to reflect on discussions earlier this year regarding efforts to stymie opportunities for queer young people to socialise together <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/17/campaign-against-same-sex-school-formal-backfires-as-donations-roll-in">at a Same Sex Gender Diverse formal</a> in Melbourne. Such discussions are reframed when we consider them from a historical perspective, observing that young people have <a href="http://www3.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-87/t1-g-t6.html">been organising themselves for decades</a>. </p>
<p>These histories are rich and fascinating, and part of the Australian story. They beg the question of what schooling might look like if LGBTI matters weren’t only discussed in relation to health, but in terms of history and culture as well. Perceptions and experiences of sexuality and gender are much broader than health.</p>
<p>For some people, the question of including more information about sexuality and gender difference at school is a controversial issue; for others, it can help make life liveable. This debate is one that has many positions. But surely everyone can agree that we would be enriched by learning more about how people have grappled with similar questions in the past? </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1092&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1092&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113651/original/image-20160303-10395-1jftmuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1092&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Holding the Man (2015).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Transmission Films</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1970s, people did not have access to all of the histories we now have. Last year’s release of the film version of Timothy Conigrave’s memoir <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3671542/">Holding the Man</a> (2015) is a powerful example of how popular culture is making <a href="http://theblurb.com.au/reviews/neil-armfield-holding-the-man-interview/">histories of sexuality, gender, youth and schooling more readily accessible</a>. Sources like this encourage us to see the rich history that is largely an untapped resource in Australian schools.</p>
<p>Of course, across the country there is exciting work going on in and out of schools: education that engages the rich potential of queer history and culture in a range of formal and informal ways. Such approaches, however, can be ad hoc, under-resourced and vulnerable to a moral panic attack. </p>
<p>How can we strengthen this work? In 2012, I established the <a href="http://alga.org.au/education/queer-youth-education">Queer Youth Education Project</a> through which I have run free workshops on Australian queer history and culture with youth groups, youth workers, teachers and the general public. </p>
<p>In the <a href="http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk">United Kingdom</a> and the <a href="http://www.lgbthistorymonth.com/">United States</a>, there are well-established LGBT or queer “history month” initiatives, which work in various ways to incorporate LGBT or queer history into the teaching and learning of history in general. </p>
<p>These initiatives raise many questions about what approaches could work for Australia, and this would be a useful discussion for us to have. The history taught in schools is often one which only appears to include heterosexual people, and when sexuality and gender difference is discussed it is often only in terms of health. An LGBTI or queer history month would draw attention to these things. </p>
<p>More than this, a Queer History Month could help teachers, young people, parents and communities work together to share ideas about how these issues could be addressed. </p>
<p>When this year’s Mardi Gras parade happens on Saturday, the marchers, revellers and spectators will be calling to mind the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-on-the-sydney-mardi-gras-march-of-1978-54337">violence, celebration and struggle of that first march</a> almost four decades ago. </p>
<p>It is a call to each of us to reflect on the histories we inherit, even those parts we find painful and confronting. Since the 1970s Australia has, for the first time, welcomed a generation of young people growing up after Gay Liberation. </p>
<p>So much has changed so quickly: decriminalisation, increased public visibility of queer people, changes to the <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Pages/AustralianGovernmentGuidelinesontheRecognitionofSexandGender.aspx">recognition of gender identity and intersex status</a>, the expunging of <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/putting-right-past-prejudices-and-expunging-homosexual-convictions/">historical homosexual convictions</a>, and more.</p>
<p>And yet, at the same time, we find echoes of the past in the tenor of contemporary debate. By turning our attention to the past, perhaps we can all learn together about historical struggles over sexuality, gender and education in schools, and why for some there is so much at stake in this debate. </p>
<p>In the end, putting LGBTI or queer people and issues into the history that is taught at school might teach us all a bit more about the Australia that we live in today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Marshall was a past President of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, and was previously an associate member of Safe Schools Coalition Victoria. </span></em></p>Australia has a vibrant, culturally rich, queer history and it should be acknowledged in our schools.Daniel Marshall, Senior Lecturer , Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/556392016-03-03T00:53:37Z2016-03-03T00:53:37ZBullying linked to gender and sexuality often goes unchecked in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113505/original/image-20160302-25897-nc9sx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 80% of homophobic and transphobic incidents that young people experience take place in schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past few weeks, proselytising and campaigning about the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/the-responsible-thing-malcolm-turnbull-defends-safe-schools-review-20160301-gn7c65.html">role of the Safe Schools Coalition</a> has reached fever pitch. </p>
<p>While the program faces continuing malicious <a href="https://theconversation.com/safe-schools-coalition-what-is-the-christian-right-afraid-of-55296">attacks from the right</a>, many Australians have been thrust into a discussion that invokes the idea of “the gay agenda”, sexuality recruitment and indoctrination about sexuality and gender. </p>
<p>While social and psychological research wholeheartedly dismisses these claims, the voices that propagate them continue on without recognition of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-safe-schools-coalition-55018">the broader aims</a> and outcomes that the program legitimately addresses.</p>
<p>The Safe Schools Coalition doesn’t only supports students who are diverse in gender identity or sexuality. It supports everyone within the school environment, including teachers, principals and straight/cisgender students. Specifically, the program provides schools with crucial resources that disrupt violence and aggression based on gender and sexuality in schools.</p>
<p>Bullying that relates to gender or sexuality is the most common form of violence that students encounter in schools. </p>
<p>While figures from Australia are unavailable, <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/23/4/519.abstract">research from the US</a> indicates that 80% of students will experience some kind of gender-based bullying during their primary and high school studies, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113506/original/image-20160302-25872-zy4tfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Violent behaviour relating to gender or sexuality is most likely to occur in schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This type of bullying includes any kind of threatening or harassing behaviours that are based on gender role expectations. As such, it encompasses sexual harassment, coercion and assault; insults, intimidation and assaults based on perceived or actual sexual orientation; and verbal or physical harassment.</p>
<p>Violence of this kind can manifest in school environments when gender roles are clearly defined by language and culture. Students (and in some cases teachers) subsequently discriminate against those who may deviate from these expectations. </p>
<p>Some common examples of this include girls who are called “sluts” if they wear particular clothes or makeup, or boys who are called “faggots” if they are not into sports or refuse to look at pornography. </p>
<p>Similarly, transphobic bullying can happen when students do not fit neatly into binary gender understandings. </p>
<p>These environments are particularly hostile for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) students. They are likely to hear <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10538720802161680#.VtZgtJN95Bw">eight homophobic insults a day</a>, with one-third of these either perpetrated or condoned by school staff.</p>
<p>Some 80% of homophobic and transphobic incidents that LGBTQ young people experience <a href="http://bzaf.org.au/homophobic-bullying/">take place in schools</a>.</p>
<p>Importantly, an <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/31038/meyer2008gendered-harassment.pdf">emerging body of research</a> has demonstrated that teachers are <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/09654289910256914">often not equipped</a> to respond to moments of gender-based violence. </p>
<p>While aggression related to race and ethnicity is often responded to firmly and with confidence, school staff often ignore instances where aggressors <a href="http://opac.library.usyd.edu.au:80/record=b4498324%7ES4">target a student’s gender</a>. </p>
<p>Research has shown that teachers often fail to intervene in these instances because they see them as inevitable or not serious. This is additionally problematic as students often frame gender or sexuality-based aggression <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0954025022000010749">as joking</a> or not serious (like other forms of bullying are). </p>
<p>They may also suggest that the victim <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.10045/abstract">deserved the violence</a>. Each of these attitudes fosters a culture of non-reporting, further facilitating <a href="http://gas.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/28/0891243214526468.abstract">aggression of this kind</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://opac.library.usyd.edu.au:80/record=b4498324%7ES4">my research</a>, teachers suggested that the students who were at risk of gender-based or homophobic bullying had exceptional strengths that protected them from emotional or psychological damage from such incidents. </p>
<p>Teachers often failed to recognise that homophobic language, or epithets like “slut” and “poof”, could be harmful to students. When moments of homophobia or gendered aggression occurred, they often dismissed it as not serious or as an inevitable product of adolescent relationships.</p>
<p>Each of these positions is equally concerning as they allow bullying that relates to gender and sexuality to go unchecked in school environments, communicating to students that these actions have no institutional consequences.</p>
<p>Programs such as the Safe Schools Coalition confront these attitudes by providing teachers with resources to purposefully recognise and disrupt bullying that relates to gender and sexuality. They also provide support for students who may be experiencing this aggression regardless of whether they are same-sex attracted or gender diverse.</p>
<p>Some commentators have suggested that the removal of the Safe Schools program constitutes <a href="http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/the-vitriol-against-the-safe-schools-program-reflects-statesanctioned-homophobia-20160225-gn4794.html">state-sanctioned homophobia</a>. This notion recognises that by removing the limited support structures for addressing violence related to gender and sexuality, institutions become complicit in its (re)production.</p>
<p>Homophobia and transphobia are not issues only for LGBTQ students. These aggressions affect whole school populations by preventing students from behaving in particular ways in case they are “called out” as gay or lesbian, or told that their masculinity or femininity isn’t “correct”.</p>
<p>Programs that address aggression based on gender norms and associated sexualities enable a more positive learning and social environment, with greater behavioural flexibility for all students.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Victoria will be on hand for an Author Q&A between 3:30 and 4pm AEDT on Thursday, March 4, 2016. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Rawlings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>About 80% of students experience some kind of gender-based bullying in their primary and high school years. But research shows that teachers often fail to intervene or are not equipped to deal with it.Victoria Rawlings, Lecturer in education, pedagogy and sexuality, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/552962016-02-25T19:04:26Z2016-02-25T19:04:26ZSafe Schools Coalition: what is the Christian Right afraid of?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112872/original/image-20160225-15160-pb0wn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While some conservatives worry about the Safe Schools program 'turning' kids gay, they in turn seem determined to turn queer kids straight.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the instigation of conservative Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-23/turnbull-requests-investigation-into-safe-schools-program/7192374">requested an investigation</a> into the <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/">Safe Schools Coalition</a>. In doing so, Turnbull has given voice to, and legitimised, discredited and prejudiced views that inclusive sexuality education will turn kids gay.</p>
<p>Safe Schools is a world-leading, evidence-based program to make schools safe environments for same-sex-attracted, intersex and gender-diverse students, staff and families. </p>
<p>Sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and intersex status are protected grounds in international human rights legislation on education. They are also protected in Australian national legislation. Australia’s work opposing homophobia and transphobia in schools is internationally celebrated, and featured in UNESCO best-practice documentation.</p>
<p>This begs the question: on what grounds should we be investigating this program? </p>
<p>The political circumstances that brought this investigation about are clear. It is <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/politics-government/God-Under-Howard-Marion-Maddox-9781741145687">well-documented</a> that conservative Christian voices – such as Bernardi’s – are vastly over-represented in Australia’s political system. So the sexual politics within the parliament do not represent the views of the Australian population. Conservative voices are disproportionately amplified.</p>
<p>But some more basic questions are: why are these conservative Christians so obsessed with sex? And why are they so afraid of lesbians and gays?</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-really-lies-behind-conservative-opposition-to-same-sex-marriage-46011">My research</a> has shown that the Christian Right is a small minority within the broader Christian population of Australia. Yet, through political lobbying over the past 45 years, they have become the loudest religious voice in Australian politics. </p>
<p>In Australia, as in many places in the Western world, conservative Christian politics was transformed in the 1970s. Through the 19th and mid-20th centuries, conservative Christians maintained a broad-based social agenda. They were concerned with poverty, opposed slavery, and were involved in first wave feminist campaigns. Through the Cold War, they opposed Communism. </p>
<p>After the sexual revolution, Christian political organisation became almost exclusively structured around sexual politics. You could say the sexual revolution created the New Christian Right.</p>
<p>Beginning with campaigns against the liberalisation of censorship in 1971, lobby groups like the Festival of Light and B.A. Santamaria’s Australian Family Association were formed. They captured public attention with prominent campaigns opposing abortion reform, gay law reform, and promoting censorship and “family values”.</p>
<p>But whose family values do they promote?</p>
<p>As any sociologist or social historian will tell you, there is no such thing as the “traditional family”. The meanings and structures of families vary widely across time and place.</p>
<p>In developing their politics of “family values”, the Christian Right actually invented a tradition: that of the timeless, nuclear family. This 1950s “mum, dad and 2.5 kids” model is structured around a heterosexual marriage with the husband in authority. Despite this being a minority structure in the history of families, the new Christian Right presents this as the only “natural” family structure. It then positions it as the foundation of society and of civilisation.</p>
<p>But as their campaign against the Safe Schools Coalition reveals, the Christian Right’s model of family is surprisingly vulnerable. By positioning one, historically contingent family structure as the only natural foundation of society, the Christian Right positioned all alternative family structures as deviant and threatening.</p>
<p>Single parent families, blended families and, above all, same-sex parented families threaten conservative family values. The heart of this threat is their challenge to a hierarchical family model, structured by heterosexual gender difference, under male authority.</p>
<p>But the Christian Right’s sexual politics is grounded in a delicious irony.</p>
<p>They believe that there is only one “natural” structure of gender and sexual identity. In fact, they refuse to recognise any diversity in sexual orientation or gender identity as legitimate. Yet they are paranoid that anti-bullying education could “turn” any schoolkid lesbian, gay, or gender diverse. It is as if everyone has a latent homosexual or trans potential that is just waiting to be activated. </p>
<p>The idea that inclusive sex education and anti-bullying programs will turn kids gay or trans is as familiar as it is ludicrous. It was behind Margaret Thatcher’s notorious <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28">Section 28</a>, behind the Australian Christian Right’s opposition to safe sex advertisements in the 1990s, and is behind Russia’s notorious <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33738770">“gay propoganda law”</a>.</p>
<p>There is no evidence that inclusive sex education turns people gay. There is, however, plenty of evidence that it has made queer kids feel safer in schools.</p>
<p>The spurious critiques of the Safe Schools program are negatively impacting these kids. Bernardi and the Australian Christian Lobby’s claims that Safe Schools Coalition programs promote homosexuality (read “turn kids gay”) implies that same-sex-attracted and gender-diverse kids don’t already exist. And worse, it implies that being anything other than straight is a bad thing.</p>
<p>The Christian Right are thus guilty of the very sin of which they accuse Safe Schools. They are promoting a “family values” sexual agenda which is trying to turn queer kids straight. But with 72% of Australians supporting same-sex marriage, Australia’s actual family values have changed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy W. Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Research Theology Foundation Incorporated. Safe Schools Coalition Victoria was originally a joint initiative of the Foundation for Young Australians and Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria. Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria is funded by the Victorian government and sits within the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University.</span></em></p>The review of the Safe Schools program is yet another example of the misguided conservative anxiety that talking about homosexuality can “turn” children gay.Timothy W. Jones, Senior Lecturer in History, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/547402016-02-15T23:14:09Z2016-02-15T23:14:09ZWe must celebrate gender and sexual diversity in our schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111452/original/image-20160215-22550-1snpxdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Moralising commentaries about the Safe Schools Coalition are dangerously out of touch.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Devaun</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Moralising commentaries about the <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/">Safe Schools Coalition</a> are dangerously out of touch with the science of sex, the social research about gender and the realities of the ways that young people already understand their own sexual and gender identities.</p>
<p>In the past weeks and months, the Safe Schools Coalition, a national program that <a href="http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/what-we-do">offers outreach and resources</a> to schools to foster a safe environment for LGBTI young people, has come under increasing attack in a range of publications. </p>
<p>The outrage at its approach of going beyond tolerance, to celebration of sexual and gender diversity, has reached something of a crescendo in the last week.</p>
<p>Language in <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/government-and-teacher-union-hypocrisy-as-lgbti-agenda-plugged-in-schools-20160208-gmp18h.html">The Age</a>, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/activists-push-taxpayerfunded-gay-manual-in-schools/news-story/4de614a88e38ab7b16601f07417c6219">The Australian</a> and the <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/safe-schools-transgender-awareness-program-could-do-more-harm-to-kids-than-good/news-story/93f16a43ddb61881fd613c47fbf542db">The Herald Sun</a> has drawn on accusations of indoctrination and a gay agenda, suggested Safe Schools are “crackers” and base their programs on false science, and equated queerness with religious belief and lifestyle.</p>
<p>Such was the case with senator Bob Day of Family First, who on Monday <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/give-the-parents-a-say-on-sex-program-senator-bob-day/news-story/3772a70f5645fe7a702ea6530743fce2">called for a parental vote</a> on whether government funding should be withdrawn from the Safe Schools initiative, which he described as a “gay lifestyle program”.</p>
<p>One method of attack has been to ridicule “crackers” ideas about biological sex and gender underpinning the program. James Campbell’s <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/james-campbell/gender-politics-distorts-reality/news-story/81d36d941291d3bf8b103fe0348c8e4a">recent opinion piece</a> in The Herald Sun drew on notions of common sense. On January 28 he wrote that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if someone wants to believe something as obviously crackers as the idea that there is no such thing as a man or a woman, only what we each want to be, well, that is their business. The rest of us will still be free to go on thinking there are men and women, just as we always have.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The motivation for Campbell’s piece was an Age article in which Safe Schools Coalition Victoria co-founder Roz Ward <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-state-guidelines-for-transgender-students-and-school-sport-20160121-gmb30g.html#ixzz40D4Rk45o">outlined the group’s goal</a> of promoting a better sense of inclusion for transgender young people in sports:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The common experience is that transgender and gender-diverse students stop taking part in sport because they feel too uncomfortable […]. We want schools to make it very clear that they can continue to be involved.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Campbell, from this, made a reductionist leap of reasoning to the hypothetical unfairness that could result from this aim:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] if there are only so-called male bodies and so-called female bodies, by what objective criteria do we have male and female sports at all? Everyone should be able to compete against each other all the time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This wilfully naïve jump of logic is an uninformed scare tactic, akin to the “boys will pretend to be girls to peek at girls’ boobs in the changing room” logic that Liberal MP Peter Abetz, speaking on the ABC, seemed to be <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4196494.htm">levelling at Safe Schools</a> last year:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would put it to you that none of the parents out there listening would want their teenage daughter changing or using a toilet at high school and having a boy who says that he identifies as feminine using that toilet or being there when their daughters are getting changed for sport. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kevin Donnelly, writing in The Age last week, suggested that the Safe Schools program <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/government-and-teacher-union-hypocrisy-as-lgbti-agenda-plugged-in-schools-20160208-gmp18h">is premised on</a> a “belief” about the number of LGBTI people in the population, as well as beliefs about the nature of bullying and the best ways to tackle this. </p>
<p>Such so-called beliefs are in fact conclusions, based on careful and extensive international <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bw0268-from-blues-to-rainbows-report-final-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2">peer-reviewed research</a> about the health and wellbeing of LGBTI youth. </p>
<p>Gender and biological sex diversity has been established in historical and contemporary sociology, and in the biological sciences. The variability of biological sex is established to the extent that, last year, Nature Journal, one of the most influential peer-reviewed scientific journals in the world, <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943">had a cover story</a> declaring the “redefining” of two, fixed biological sexes. By scientists. Not politically-correct and “crackers” queers. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, religious critics have taken the opportunity to use increased fear of this “radical” incorporation of gender and sexuality education in schools by equating diversity-training and raising awareness about the existing LGBTI student population with indoctrination into ethical and lifestyle choices. </p>
<p>Other arguments have focused specifically on the topic of gender. <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Sex_gender.html?id=BhbJUlZvYwEC">Gender research</a> has shown that children are subject to stereotypical gender assumptions from birth and throughout their lives. It is also <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/it-takes-more-than-two-20130619-2oj8v.html">widely-known</a> that the parents of intersex infants are strongly encouraged by medical professionals to choose one of the two accepted genders for their children, and consent to “corrective” surgery in order to fit the child’s biology to this.</p>
<p>There is ample research that concludes that, for both boys and girls, the imposition of social (not natural) dualistic gender norms holds negative consequences both socially and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3810283">psychologically</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Dude_You_re_a_Fag.html?id=zuP1zpNjiA0C">Boys</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=YD56gICSRk0C&redir_esc=y">girls</a>, and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0951839042000253676?journalCode=tqse20">gender diverse</a> young people find it almost impossible to resist the sometimes violently enforced gender norms they are expected to fit in to – and those who do not or cannot suffer the <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bw0268-from-blues-to-rainbows-report-final-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2">consequences</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, empirical research persistently concludes that one of the key sites of the violent enforcement of gender normativity is schools, where gender and sexual non-conformity bears hideous consequences. </p>
<p>Schools can be a nightmare for LGBTI youth. An afternoon with Safe Schools is hardly going to unravel the sexual identity of every straight student, but it may well make a more accepting and safe space for those children for whom heterosexuality and gender normativity has never fit.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most radical, and moralising, criticisms came last week from Donnelly in The Age, who suggested <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/government-and-teacher-union-hypocrisy-as-lgbti-agenda-plugged-in-schools-20160208-gmp18h">it was hypocritical</a> to allow this awareness-training if teachers cannot actively promote religious beliefs, such as the <a href="https://www.sydneycatholic.org/pdf/dmm-booklet_web.pdf">Don’t Mess With Marriage</a> letter from the Catholic Bishops of Australia, in schools. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/01411920802688705/abstract">research shows</a> that, to effectively tackle the exclusionary and normative ideas underpinning homophobia and transphobic bullying, it is indeed time to go beyond “tolerance” and liberal equal-opportunity approaches – beyond passively reinforcing the idea that everyone is straight, to radically challenge the ideas and awareness of the wider school population. </p>
<p>Actively promoting diverse sexualities and genders as valid choices among many in schools does not harm anyone, but actively denying their existence does.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>This article was has been edited to remove a quote from an ABC article by Laura McNally that has since been withdrawn.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Nicholas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Moralising commentaries about the Safe Schools Coalition are out of touch with social research about gender and the realities of the ways that young people understand their own sexual and gender identities.Lucy Nicholas, Associate professor Sexualities and Genders / Sociology, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.