Anti-Safe Schools petition signed by 16,000 Victorians

MORE than 16,000 signatures have been added to a Victorian petition against the controversial Safe Schools program, which has been handed to the Andrews Government.

PREMIER Daniel Andrews’ office was handed a 16,000 strong signature petition against the controversial Safe Schools program on Friday.

The petition, from the Australian Christian Lobby, said the government was “encouraging cross dressing, teaching kids that their gender is ‘fluid’ and promoting instruction in chest binding”.

ACL’s Victorian director Dan Flynn called on the government to remove Safe Schools from classrooms or “the voters will be looking to throw their support behind other parties that have promised to scrap it”.

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Despite the threat, Education Minister James Merlino said the government would continue to deliver Safe Schools, with every public secondary school to participate by the end of the year.

“Safe Schools help schools and students understand and respect that people should not be discriminated against for any reason — including gender and sexual diversity,” he said.

“It is a sad reality that LGBTI young people are more likely to be bullied at school than elsewhere and this has an impact on how they perform at school.

“All students have the right to feel safe and welcome at school.”

A total of 321 public secondary schools are participating in Safe Schools with a further 83 to complete training and requirements during 2018.