You’d have to be some kind of monster to look at a program designed to reduce bullying for queer kids in schools and thus address the drastically higher rate of suicide and self-harm among the queer population and think “hey, let’s get rid of this”, but it turns out those monsters exist and a whole bunch of them are in the Coalition.
The religious right have taken objection to the program, for some reason believing that teaching kids about gender will turn them into perverts. Thanks to Turnbull‘s need for the conservative wing’s support, the program has been defunded – even after an investigation into it found that it complied with the national curriculum.
It’s disgusting that shit like this is being rolled back in the year 2016, but luckily there are some people out there working to fight this nonsense. People, for instance, like Troye Sivan‘s absolutely legend of a mum, Laurelle Mellet.
Mellet has started a petition urging the Prime Minister and Education Minister Simon Birmingham to both continue funding the program and to make it compulsory for schools, citing just how necessary it is that we look after our LGBTQI kids:
“Gay teens are 14 times more likely to kill themselves in Australia. Despite this, most schools won’t opt in to the program unless it’s made compulsory – it’s frightening.“Troye was was terrified but needn’t have been – his coming out video went viral and we couldn’t be prouder of him. But Troye was lucky. Thousands of gay teens battle aggressive intimidation, exclusion and even attempts of suicide.“To exclude anti-LGBTQI bullying programs from schools is beyond cruel. I’d like to think all parents would fight for a system that makes their child feel safe, not worthless.”
The petition has got nearly 2000 signatures in 5 hours and, unless you’re a complete dickhead, you should absolutely add yours here.
Source and photo: Change.org.
