Single-sex schools can still turn away transgender kids under ALP plan
Single-sex schools will be able to refuse to enrol transgender kids even under Labor’s proposal to end sex discrimination against children. Senior Labor sources revealed the proposed changes to the law would still hand these schools the power to turn transgender kids away.
NSW
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Single-sex schools will be able to refuse to enrol transgender kids even under Labor’s proposal to end sex discrimination against children.
Senior Labor sources told The Daily Telegraph the proposed changes to sex discrimination laws would still hand single-sex schools the power to turn transgender kids away.
They confirmed there were no plans to axe the exemption within the Sex Discrimination Act that means it does not apply to “a refusal or failure to accept a person’s application for admission as a student at an educational institution where the educational institution is conducted solely for students of a different sex from the sex of the applicant”.
The position is likely to anger those within Labor’s left who have been pushing to review the use of gender on official documents — a move dismissed by Bill Shorten.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal Barnaby Joyce wants all religious schools to have the power to choose which toilets transgender kids can use.
The former Nationals leader is urging the Coalition to differentiate itself on the issue, which he believes cuts through with regional people.
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His decision to weigh into the debate helped expose the hypocrisy of Labor’s proposal, forcing the Opposition to confirm it will leave transgender kids open to discrimination in some circumstances.
Attempts to stop private schools from expelling gay students for their sexuality came to a standstill in the final week of parliament after the government and Labor failed to reach agreement on how to balance religious protections.
Mr Joyce said coeducational religious schools should be able to enforce which bathrooms and change rooms transgender children could use.
“You should respect the school’s views and especially the wider parent body within the school,” he said.
“If it’s against the ethos of people who spend their own money to send their child to a Lutheran, Catholic or Islamic school then we should respect their wishes.”
The issue came up after a review into religious freedoms revealed that religious schools were legally allowed to discriminate against gay students.