Australian Association for the Teaching of English wants more students to read LGBTIQ literature

A leading teachers association wants high school students to discuss “sexuality” in class in a bid to destroy “heterosexual privilege”.

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English teachers are being urged to “queer” up the curriculum by a leading teachers association which argues high school students need to be discussing “sexuality” in class to avoid perpetuating “heteronormativity’’.

The push by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English would see high school students forced to study LGBTIQ literature in a bid to destroy “heterosexual privilege”.

Australian Catholic University senior fellow Dr Kevin Donnelly has lambasted the move saying the “cultural left” was attempting to invade the education system to spread radical gender ideology

The Australian Association for the Teaching of English wants to destroy “heterosexual privilege”.

The AATE published the ideas in its latest journal, English in Australia, which also argued it was a mistake abolishing the Safe Schools Program in NSW.

“We resist the notion that students studying English in secondary school are not mature enough to discuss sexuality, as well as the notion that conversations about diverse sexual identities are inappropriate for English teachers to engage, particularly once students are in Years 11 and 12 and preparing to enter the adult world,” Queensland education lecturer Kelli McGraw wrote in the journal.

Her article also detailed the need for gay literature quotas arguing the English reading lists should be reflective of the number of LGBTIQ people in society.

The AATE says the reading list should reflect the number of LGBTIQ people in society.

“The curriculum should be adapted to the ‘real conditions in which teachers

work’ … for example, real conditions equal 10 per cent of the population identifying as LGBTIQ+.

“Given the statistics and experiences of LGBTIQ+ students in our schools, it would seem the word ‘equity’ applies to them.”

Dr Donnelly said he also had concerns about suggestions within the journal that teachers should use gender neutral pronouns.

“Even though the AATE might be expected to uphold the rules of grammar it succumbs to the politically correct approach by abolishing ‘he and she’ on the basis that ‘Their, they, them’ are used as alternatives to gendered pronouns,” he said, adding teachers are facing pressure to become “new-age warriors’’.

Dr Kevin Donnelly says the cultural left is trying to invade the education system. Picture: David Geraghty

“What parents and the public have to realise is that in today’s classroom English teachers are

being pressured to become new-age warriors of the cultural-left and political correctness is

the dominant ideology.”

The journal’s editor and University of Melbourne literary professor Larissa McLean Davies said it was important to have difficult conversations about sexuality had pointed to great works of literature such as Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby as an example.

“We have always talked about sex in English,” she said

“Literature is a fundamental part of English and has always been a way of understanding the human condition and talking about difficult issues.”

“Teachers are trained professionals working with texts and understand the issues so what better environment to have these discussions.”

Originally published as Australian Association for the Teaching of English wants more students to read LGBTIQ literature