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GLBT advocates have rejected claims by mainstream media that they are pushing for a ban on the use of the terms ‘mum’ or ‘dad’ in schools.
Last Friday the Daily Telegraph claimed that schools are coming “under pressure” by GLBT youth support group Twenty10 to replace terms such as ‘boyfriend’, ‘girlfriend’ and ‘spouse’ with ‘partner’ to reduce discrimination.
The report came shortly after the NSW Anti-Homophobia Interagency’s second anti-homophobia conference ‘That’s So Gay: Addressing Homophobia and Celebrating Diversity in Educational Settings’ that was held at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre last Wednesday.
Michael Coutts-Trotter, NSW Department of Education and Training Director-General, who opened the conference, was quick to quash the claims, dismissing them as “simply untrue”.
Twenty10’s Executive Officer Meredith Turnbull branded the debate “silly” and said it should be focused on why systemic reform of education policy has been so long coming.
“At the conference, Twenty10 held an information stall … including resources that conference delegates may find useful in their work with GLBT students. This included our Checklist for GLBT-Friendly Schools. The checklist suggests strategies and is not a systemic ‘call or a push’ for all schools to adopt it,” she told SX.
ACON’s CEO Stevie Clayton concurred. “There was never any official call or resolution made to ban anything,” she said.
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