If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a copy of the ‘All of Us’ unit guide:

Safe Schools Coalition, All of Us unit guide

I highly recommend reading it and forming your own opinion of the content, rather than relying on the mainstream media – which refuses to investigate or report anything beyond the name calling game.

(NB: please note that this document is the tip of the iceberg – there are dozens of other documents and videos which comprise the overall course material).

Observations

Here are some observations on the unit guide – if you have any others, please share them in the comments section below:

• Four of the eight lessons are focused on specifically on the LGBTI groups. The other four are dedicated to what can best be described as a communistic style of indoctrination:
  • Lesson 1 – establishing a safe space and requiring children to sign up to a ‘Group Agreement’ of ‘agreed behaviours’ such as: ‘we don’t gossip about what’s been said in this class’ (page 17).
  • Lesson 6 – reducing ‘heteronormativity’, becoming an LGBTI ‘Ally’ and writing and signing an ‘Ally’s Pledge’ (page 42-43).
  • Lesson 7 – how to stand out as an LGBTI Ally and undertaking an ‘Ally Special Mission’ which must be completed within a week (page 46).
  • Lesson 8 – strategies to create a ‘Safe School for All of Us‘ (page 50). There are specific suggestions on pages 52-53, such as creating a ‘safe space for LGBTI people and their allies to meet regularly’.

• The program is designed for year 7 and 8 children (see page 9 and the top of page 53 for example).

• Teachers are encouraged to consult ‘resources’ OMG I’m Queer and OMG My Friend’s
  Queer when it comes to challenging and common questions (page 12). These texts have been ‘made for young people’ and include, among other things, advice on breast binding and penis tucking.

• You have to use the same word that a homosexual person uses to describe themselves. If a homosexual person calls themselves ‘gay’, then it is not acceptable to call them ‘homosexual’ (page 18).

• Children as young as 11 years old are asked to role play as 16 year old homosexuals (page 20).

• Children are asked to imagine themselves without any genitalia when asked to list male and female characteristics – before being asked to consider whether the listed characteristics would matter to aliens (pages 30-31).

• The definitions of ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ have now been rewritten such that ‘sex’ means the body you were born with (i.e. male, female or inter), whereas ‘gender’ is about ‘your identity’ (page 30). The Oxford Dictionary does not appear to be on board with this yet.

• It is apparently ‘not uncommon’ for men to wear makeup such as eyeliner (page 31). Here is a definition of ‘common’ in case you’re confused.

• ‘Heteronormativity’ should reduced. I’ll leave you to read page 42 and try to make sense of how an 11 year old should absorb this.

The left giving us ‘the facts’

Judith Ireland of The Sydney Morning Herald had a go at giving us the ‘FACTS’ (sic), including this piece of sophistry:

And there is nothing in the Safe Schools material that is explicit or that instructs kids on what to do with boobs or penises they might not want.

This issue has arisen because of a different organisation, Minus18, which is a youth-led network for LGBTI teens. On its own website, it has a 40 page booklet called OMG I’m Trans, which contains (less than a page) of advice on breast binding and penis tucking and how to do it safely.

Yes, Minus18 is an affiliate and supporter of Safe Schools and its website and logo are prominently displayed in teaching materials. But binding and tucking are not part of the program. And the booklet is providing the information to a specific group of young people who are looking for specific advice.

Of course, Judith seems to be either unaware of or not willing to mention that:

• teachers (and presumably students) are encouraged to consult the OMG I’m Queer and OMG My Friend’s Queer documents prepared by Minus18 (page 12 and third observation above); and

• OMG I’m Queer and OMG My Friend’s Queer can be downloaded from the Safe Schools Coalition website.

The featured image at the top of this post also seems to be lost on Judith.

To claim that the All of Us program runs in complete isolation to the Minus18 material simply doesn’t wash.

If you’d like to know more about Minus18, go here.

Parental consent

Lastly, one of my initial concerns was that schools did not appear to be obtaining parental consent to convey the above material. This concern now appears to be a reality as reported by Angela Shanahan of The Australian:

Some of the material, especially that provided by the associated Minus 18 website, is too graphic to pass school firewalls, and students are urged to ask teachers to unblock it. This means a federal education program is advising schools to allow changes to their firewall protection. Parents may be interested in that one…

Right and wrong are moral issues, so the issue of parental consent is vital to any review of this program. Yet it has been barely explored… 

The real point is about parental control. The LGBTI lobby has sneaked this agenda into nearly 500 schools under the guise of anti-bullying, and parental consultation was not welcome because it knew how Australian parents would feel about it.

If it wasn’t clear before, it certainly is now: the ‘All of Us’ program needs to be renamed, significantly re-written and inclusive of parents without exception.