The whole Gayby Baby school saga was brought on by some pretty disappointing and close-minded fear-mongering. Still, months after the film was pulled from schools, the support for the documentary continues to overshadow its detractors.
It’s been revealed that out of 140 complaints received by the New South Wales Government regarding Maya Newell’s film, only a piddly 55 were from those who wanted to see it banned from classrooms.
The remaining 85 – nearly two-thirds, for those keeping score – supported the in-school screenings, and provided a ‘backlash to the backlash’, tearing into Education Minister Adrian Piccoli’s controversial decision.
Bear with us here, but it’s almost like the film just portrays real Australians, you know, living their lives, and doing nothing to deserve the vitriol thrown at them.
In a statement, the Department countered by saying “NSW public schools are neutral grounds for rational discourse and objective study. They are not arenas for opposing political views or ideologies.”
Although the opposition to the film has been enough to bum anyone out, the massive outpourings of community support have gone a long way to showing same-sex families as not just a political view or ideology, but as a real way of life for kids in Australian schools.
For those who haven’t caught it yet, special screenings are being held in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT throughout the month. With that in mind, we can probably go ahead and call this one in Gayby Baby’s favour.
