NSW high school adds gender neutral pronoun to toilet signs

Questions are being raised about why a Central Coast high school has gone woke with pronouns after gender neutral terms were added to signs outside the school’s toilets.

A Central Coast high school has gone woke with new toilet signs that state “He/They” and “She/They”, prompting parental complaints and a question in the NSW Parliament.

Northlakes High School, a public school near Doyalson, recently pinned up new posters next to their traditional single sex toilets.

But the signs sparked complaints on the local Facebook page, while One Nation MP Mark Latham has quizzed Education Minister Sarah Mitchell about what he says are “LGBTIQ style pronouns”.

He said parents had raised the issue with him, concerned it would encourage boys to use girls toilets and upset that 12 to 13 year old girls would have to share toilets with 17 to 18 year old boys.

The photograph of the fresh signs with the pronouns was also posted on a local Facebook group.

A Central Coast high school has gone woke with new toilet signs that state “He/Them” and “She/They”.

“Why confuse a thousand students and cause anxiety like this?” Mr Latham said. “I think these pronouns, that are restricted to the woke elite, do not have widespread use.

“To put them here on the student toilets causes confusion, is unnecessary and raises anxiety.”

He said a father of a 13-year-old daughter said she had come home confused and anxious about the situation.

“It’s a political statement that raises community alarm about safety and does not help students.”

The parliamentary education committee, which Mr Latham chairs, has recommended schools that if there is a special need for some students, they should be allowed access to the administrative block toilets.

Mr Latham asked Ms Mitchell in a parliamentary question on notice about what the school was doing to address concerns among parents about the issue.

One Nation NSW Leader Mark Latham is seen during Budget Estimates for Education inside NSW Parliament in Sydney. Picture: Gaye Gerard

He also said other parents had contacted him on Tuesday concerned about a rainbow and trans pride flag draped across a fence at Abbotsford Public school in Sydney’s inner west.

“It shows the insidious creeping nature of these political campaigns,” he said.

“Why Abbotsford needs to advertise itself as a gay pride and transgender school I don’t know, I don’t see the Australian flag there.

“What has this got to do with English, maths, history science – it’s another instance of a school going out of the way to be political.”

Ms Mitchell responded by saying: “All public schools in NSW provide safe and supportive learning environments for our students that respect and value diversity and are free from violence, discrimination, harassment and vilification.”

The flags at Abbotsford Public School.

Asked about the signs at Northlakes and whether it had a policy about single sex toilets, a NSW Department of Education department spokeswoman said:

“At Northlakes High School, except for one unisex, lockable, single cubicle toilet attached to the school sick bay, all toilets are single sex. ”

And the spokesperson said on the trans flag issue at Abbotsford - “No one in the Abbotsford Public School community had approached the school with concerns about these flags, which have flown for several months.”