After making comments about LGBTI education, Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison visits a school. (Photo: Facebook)
Australia’s new Prime Minster has continued his streak of anti-LGBTI comments by criticizing training teachers on transgender issues.
‘We do not need “gender whisperers” in schools,’ Prime Minster Scott Morrison wrote on Twitter on Wednesday (5 September).
He was sharing a Daily Telegraph article that claimed training teachers to be aware of transgender students had lead to a surge in young people transitioning. ‘Let kids be kids,’ he wrote.
Earlier this week, the new Prime Minister said he found it ‘skin-curling’ that schools taught children about LGBTI topics. He also said he would not ‘get involved’ in outlawing gay conversion therapy.
Morrison had ‘made every effort to demonise young LGBTIQ people,’ said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens LGBTIQ spokesperson. ‘He has done so much damage in such a short time,’ she said on Wednesday.
Rice said:
‘I’ve got news for the Prime Minister – some kids are trans. Some kids are gay, lesbian, bisexual. Some kids are questioning their gender or sexuality. And they need to be supported by their families, communities, schools and their representatives in parliament.’
We do not need ‘gender whisperers’ in our schools. Let kids be kids. https://t.co/POzM26PXU5
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 4, 2018
Fight for LGBTI Education
Last month, Morrison became Australia’s sixth Prime Minster in 11 years. As a pentecostal Christian, he voted against same-sex marriage during the country’s recent debate. He also advocated for religious institutions to be able to discriminate against LGBTI people.
Morrison was against the ‘Safe Schools’ program, which aimed to teach kids in Australian schools about gender and sexual minorities, before it was shut down.
The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday said hospitals had referred 74 Australians aged 6-16 to gender dysphoria clinics this year This compared to 22 in 2015.
Western Sydney University Professor of Paediatrics John Whitehall told the paper it was a ‘sad, tragic and very dangerous fad.’
Gender experts were ‘part of the problem as they mess with the kids by giving them a platform to believe they have a genuine problem,’ he said.
In the article, Gender counsellor Dr Elizabeth Riley said one in 100 students will be transgender. ‘It’s important we support them so they get the right advice early so they are not bullied or go into hiding,’ she said.
