Safe Schools is available online in it's entirety & an LGBT reaction to last weeks debate

An emotional article written by an LGBT person about last weeks Safe Schools debacle, also points to the fact that the entire Safe Schools is available online anyway.

http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/resources 

But that doesn't change the damage done to even adult LGBT people now. Last weeks Canberra cave in to bullies of queers said so very much about our current political leadership. The simple fact that Turnbull, the gay friendly guy, wasn't willing to stand up for us brings back so many memories of the classroom........

In New Zealand, in High School back in the 70's, you can imagine what it must have been like. I so wished much later in life that I'd grown up in eastern Sydney. I was picked on, called names by the bigger sports popular kids (I was hopeless at sport) and had no idea why. Even though gays apparently didn't exist in Taranaki, somehow kids just knew I was different and singled me out. This of course long before my wife and certainly not taking away anything of the love we both had for each other.

But all queer childhoods are difficult. It can mean turning up to school one day, when you are very young, and facing a form of hatred that is inexplicable to everyone involved. Children will do this to you; adults may abide it. As you come to understand yourself, your bullies grow into their bigotry. They seem know your vulnerabilities as well as you do. They countervail your desire for self-expression. In many cases the situation improves (or at least high school ends) but the consequences endure. While my LGBT friends and I have great lives we still carry these experiences with us. 

That’s precisely why the last few weeks have been so emotional for LGBT Australians. Some of my friends have described it as re-traumatising. To hear elected politicians say that it dangerous for children to learn about our lives recalls the high school homophobe who viewed your very presence in their classroom as a form of moral contamination. When you have grown up in a society that ideologically heterosexual and cisgendered the claim that Safe Schools is “ideological” can leave you lost for words. 

It is a reminder that we can reach a place of safety — be out to ourselves, our family, our friends — and yet still have the very nature of who we are called into question. 

I cannot imagine what that review period was like for LGBT schoolchildren. A small gesture of affirmation — a policy rolled out in a handful schools across the nation — has been arbitrarily suspended, withdrawn, amended. Again, however, I doubt they’ll all be surprised: a queer childhood can involve anticipating these moments. (An example: the supportive friend who suddenly draws away). 

I do not think Malcolm Turnbull is a homophobe. In the smiling photos of him and Lucy at the recent Mardi Gras he seemed relaxed. Too relaxed. We’re glad you aren’t Tony Abbott, but merely being unbigoted isn’t leadership. 

Anti-bullying education involves telling all children that they must not be a bystander. The Prime Minister should heed that lesson. He must stand up to the ignorant elements of his own party and ensure that every child feels safe in our schools. Medium