Queer Theory Sneaks into NSW Primary Schools: A Christian Mum's Email Sheds Light on the Issue
Parents of NSW Primary School children assume their kids are taught important and age-appropriate content at school.
We want our kids to learn how to read, how to write, how to count - and how to treat all people with respect. Most parents (religious or non-religious) don’t want their Primary aged kids exposed to sexual content without parental consent or their kids being told that their gender is fluid. In other words, few parents would want their kids to be taught Queer Theory in the classroom.
And yet, if the email below is anything to go by, Queer Theory is sneaking its way into some NSW Government Primary Schools without parental knowledge, let alone consent. I received the email below from a concerned parent who recently wrote it to their Primary School kid’s Principal.
It contains some disturbing examples of what this Primary School - and no doubt others - is teaching their kids (especially if the Primary School watches the ABC kids Current Affairs show, ‘Behind The News’). I think this email does an excellent job of clearly raising concerns and calmly explaining their position as Christians. I commend it as an example other parents could follow should they find their kids in a similar situation.
The author permitted me to share this here. I have changed all names have for the sake of anonymity:
Dear Mr Brown (cc my husband Craig),
It was lovely to have a quick chat with you at the Stage 3 Parent Night. Thank you for being so warm and approachable to all of us parents and for helping to make TPS such an effective and positive learning environment for our children.
I’m also deeply appreciative of the phone call you made to me last year after I expressed concerns about the BTN “Wear it Purple” episode. It was reassuring to hear that TPS’s approach is to be a neutral space regarding LGBTIQ+ issues, and that it’s your desire to have parents (not the school) having these conversations with our children.
I have two more related concerns to share with you today and thank you in advance for bearing with a rather lengthy email!
BTN episodes
Like faithful Christian parents for millennia, we are striving to instil in our children an understanding that sex is a beautiful gift of God for husbands and wives, and that it is He who has made them male or female, in His image, and that they are loved and valued by Him.
We don’t expect a public school to teach those beliefs per se, though we are very thankful for the option of SRE, where the Christian teaching they receive at home can be reinforced. However, we would still like to hope that the school would not radically undermine our beliefs, as happened yesterday when yet another blatantly pro-LGBTIQ+ video was shown in some classes, including our Xavier’s (6/5AB).
Under the guise of "giving the news”, the makers of BTN have an obvious agenda, as shown by the “Wear it Purple” episode last year, the “recap of 2022” episode earlier this year in which the “Wear it Purple” episode was again featured, and the episode yesterday about the 13-year-old girl in Broken Hill who has “come out” and is making rainbow beads for shoelaces to send all over the world.
The video, in which the girl talks confidently about being “who you are”, sends a deceptive message to kids that they can presume to have worked out their sexual identity by the tender age of 13. But is this really the case? Are not the teen years a confusing and emotionally volatile time for most people, with many of us not working out identity issues until we’re well into our 20’s?
As in the “Wear it Purple” episode, bullying was again mentioned as the reaction of those who don’t support someone’s “coming out.” We deplore bullying of any kind, for any reason - but it’s not fair for the episode to convey that the only alternative to celebrating a child’s choice to “come out” is to bully them. It leaves children with traditional values and faiths (like Xavier) feeling shamed for merely having concerns or respectfully disagreeing. Where is the inclusiveness and celebration of diversity in that?
The blurb about the “Rainbow Beads” episode purports to “raise visibility” for the LGBTIQ+ community. But is this really necessary, when our children are already constantly bombarded with such messaging, from the sides of buses, to billboards, TV shows, and movies? (even those aimed at children). Why do kids need to be burdened with the complexities of adult rainbow sexuality, especially during school hours when as parents we assume they’re learning reading, writing, maths etc?
According to Xavier, after the video was shown in his class, Miss Davidson went on to write LGBTIQ+ on the board and to explain what each letter meant. We find this very upsetting. How is it appropriate in a primary school to explain terms like “bisexual, asexual, queer” etc to children as young as 10 years old, without first notifying their parents and inviting them to be present? These are lifestyles and ideologies which by no means have the consensus of our school community, which contains not only Christians but also Muslims, Africans and Asians with traditional beliefs about sexuality. Programs with adult sexual content in Australia are required to have at least a Parental Guidance rating, yet we parents were not even aware these topics would be covered yesterday, let alone present to guide our children through them.
According to Xavier, afterwards Miss Davidson apparently said of all the lifestyles she’d described, “It’s all good, it’s all normal."
If this is indeed true, we can appreciate her desire to be tolerant and inclusive, and to encourage the children to be the same. But we would beg to differ with the claim that “It’s all good."
Is it really good for BTN to confuse children about their gender and sexuality and subtly encourage sexual experimentation in their teen years?
Is it really good to orient impressionable boys toward a lifestyle where STD’s are rampant, without warning them of the risks involved?
Is it really good to steer girls toward an ideology that could end them up in a gender clinic, where they’ll be encouraged to take puberty blockers or remove healthy body parts before they really understand the implications of what they’re doing (e.g. infertility, inability to ever nurse children)?
I suspect that the growing number of angry de-transitioners who feel they’ve been lied to would say a firm, “No, it’s not good!”
Library books
This is also why I have concerns about a couple of books that my children (who are among the library’s biggest fans!) were distressed to discover in the school library last year: Rick and Who am I?. At my request, they brought Rick home so that I could read it, and I read Who am I online. In both cases, I was appalled.
Rick is adult content dressed up as children’s literature. I doubt very much that we would be the only TPS parents upset at the thought of a young child, with sexuality the farthest thing from his/her mind, picking up Rick and “discovering" that they’re probably either bisexual, asexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, or pansexual - and being encouraged (through a character in the book) to search the internet to work out which one.
The book introduces heavy concepts primary children are not ready for - eg. one of the characters (Jeff) talks about wishing to see girls naked. There are remarks on girls’ chest sizes, and subtle encouragements in Rick’s “Rainbow Club” to experiment sexually.
Not surprisingly, everyone in the book who opposes LGBTIQ+ ideology is portrayed as a hateful, violent bully. Families are portrayed positively only when they celebrate and affirm a child’s chosen sexuality. Children are viewed as knowing best who they are and what they should be, without input from wise, loving parents who are deeply invested in their long-term well-being.
The book leads kids to believe that they’re homosexual if they “like someone” of the same gender, but it doesn’t define “like”. This could lead children to believe that they are confirmed homosexuals if they merely enjoy being with a special friend of the same gender. Not to mention the unhelpful views of gender fluidity that are promoted in the book - as if the idea of multiple genders is an irrefutable, scientific fact, rather than a recent fad. In actual fact, the number of "genders and identities" keeps changing, so even the movement itself can’t get consensus!
As for Who am I?, it answers that question in a radically different way to every previous generation, and in opposition to what I daresay most TPS parents would want instilled in their children. It states, “How you were born does not define who you are…your body and your mind will decide this for you. Girls, boys and everyone in between, we are all a part of the same whole…” Do we really want children feeling trapped in the wrong body, feeling the need to undergo irreversible surgeries to become “who they really are”?
If / when in future, transgender ideology is debunked (as we suspect it will be; truth has a way of rearing its head again eventually) - TPS will not want to have been one of the voices urging children down that harmful track, even in subtle ways such as through library books.
A few requests
Our request to the school is, please guard our children’s innocence. Let us know when sexual issues will be covered, and what will be taught, so that we can decide whether or not to have our children participate. Craig and I are reaching a point where, unless the school can guarantee that BTN will be better screened in future, we will need to withdraw Xavier from school every time it is shown. This would be very disappointing (not to mention inconvenient) for us. Not to mention disruptive for him.
We would also respectfully request that books promoting radical gender ideology be removed from the school library. Please, keep it as a place of joyful discovery, not a place of indoctrination on controversial sexual topics. Let our kids enjoy their childhood without being weighed down by adult concepts they’re developmentally unprepared for, which will only make them anxious and confused. I doubt very much that anyone will miss the books if they’re gone, but I daresay that many TPS parents would strongly object to having them there, if they were made aware of their existence.
As Christian parents, we don’t expect the school library to stock books promoting our faith; we understand that it’s up to us to purchase such books for them. In the same way, the library ought to leave it up to parents with pro-LGBTIQ views to purchase books of that nature for their children. This request is not homophobia or transphobia, as activists might claim. It’s protection of our children’s minds and innocence, and showing respect for the values of many families represented in the TPS community.
We appreciate the school’s general approach - letting us know well in advance about the GenReady program, inviting us to be by our children’s side as they learn about sexuality, and making it informative without promoting alternative lifestyles. Thank you for that!
Finally, we hope very much that teachers like Miss Davidson can be made aware that such comments, though undoubtedly well-intentioned, are very upsetting to families like ours, and inappropriate for a primary school setting. We would greatly appreciate it if, when such topics come up in class, TPS teachers would be trained to respond with, “You’ll need to ask your parents about that…different families and cultures have different views on these issues.”
A few of Xavier’s classmates could see yesterday that he didn’t agree with the BTN episode and began pressuring him, “Come on, support it!” In recent weeks one has even called Xavier “homophobic" for not wanting to discuss homosexuality with him, although Xavier tried to clarify, “I don’t hate anyone. I just don’t agree with LGBTIQ lifestyles.” He’s requested that these friends just "agree to disagree” with him, but he’s getting ongoing pressure and it’s very sad and stressful for him. And the last thing he wants is for his classmates to be corrected about it in a way that would single him out further. So we hope that a way can be found to promote a “live and let live” mentality among kids at TPS, regardless of their views, without making it so pointed that Xavier ends up being targeted even more for having spoken up.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read such a lengthy email. Please be assured that we very much appreciate all that you do and pray for you and the other school leaders. These are complex times and we do sympathise with the many challenges you must face as you seek to lead the school and care for all the children well.
Warm regards,
Shelly (and Craig)