Citipointe Christian College doubles down on controversial contract

A Christian school has claimed it is “not discrimination” to ask parents to sign a contract allowing them to expel students based on their gender identity.

A Brisbane Christian school has doubled down on a controversial contract which allows the college to expel students based on their gender identity.

Citipointe Christian College in Carindale has been under fire after sending out an updated enrolment contract for parents to sign little over a week ahead of students returning to school.

The contract states the school can terminate a child’s enrolment if they do not identify with their birth gender and brands homosexually “sinful and destructive”.

Yesterday, Citipointe Christian College Principal, Pastor Brian Mulheran, released a six-minute video to parents defending the updated contract, claiming the school wants to be transparent in its Christian beliefs.

“The declaration of faith has been in place for the whole of last year. We want families to consider this ethos so that they can make the right decisions for themselves about whether they support and embrace our approach to Christian education,” he said.

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This is part of the enrolment contract that was sent out to parents.

He added that “most aspects of the agreement” reflect beliefs that are already being upheld in the school.

In the video, which parents could only access by logging into the online school portal, Mr Mulheran hit back at accusations that the school is discriminating against gay and transgender students, claiming “this is not the case”.

“While I’ve been principal, the College we have not expelled or refuse to enrol any student on the basis that are gay or transgender,” he said.

He claimed that being able to maintain the school’s Christian beliefs was “not discrimination”.

“As a college established for religious purposes, we have the freedom to maintain our Christian ethos and provide families and education based on their shared beliefs,” Mr Mulheran said.

“Legitimate exercise of religious freedom is not discrimination, it is a feature of an open society.”

He noted that while they have had to deal with individual conduct or behavioural issues, none of these situation has ever led to a student being expelled because they are gay or transgender.

Citipointe Christian College Principal, Pastor Brian Mulheran released a six minute video defending the contract. Picture: Twitter

However, Mr Mulheran’s statement appears contradictory with the contract, which clearly states the school has the right to “exclude a student from the College who no longer adheres to the College’s doctrinal precepts” – which includes the school’s beliefs around a student’s biological sex.

The contract notes the bible ties gender identity to biological sex and does not make a distinction between gender and biological sex.

“Whilst each student is individually valued and equally encouraged to pursue opportunities in both academic and co-curricular activities, I/we agree that, where distinctions are made between male and female (inclusive of, but not limited to, for example, uniforms, presentation, terminology, use of facilities and amenities, participation in sporting events and accommodation) such distinctions will be applied on the basis of the individual’s biological sex,” the contract states.

The document also brands homosexuality “sinful, offensive and destructive”, while also lumping it into the same category as paedophilia and incest.

“We believe that any form of sexual immortality (including but not limited to; adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual act, incest, paedophilia and pornography) is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society,” the school document states.

Protesters gather outside Citipointe Christian College. Picture: Richard Walker

Despite this, Mr Mulheran insists that the school “does not judge students based on their sexuality or gender identity”.

“We would not make a decision about a student’s enrolment in the college simply on that basis. It is central to our faith that being gay or transgender in no way diminishes a person’s humanity with dignity in God’s eyes,” he said.

Mr Mulheran then went on to say if the school tries to change to cater to each student’s specific needs, it has to think about how those decisions will impact every other student.

“We make these difficult decisions according to our Christian ethos, and the requirements of law and respecting the individual circumstances and needs of each student,” he said.

Parents have now been given an extra two weeks to sign the contract, with the date now extended to February 21.

School ‘under review’ Qld government warns

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace announced on Tuesday that Citipointe Christian College’s contract had been referred to Queensland’s Non-State School’s Accreditation Board and the school would be reviewed.

“They will be looking at this issue from the legislation,” she said at a press conference.

Ms Grace said complaints had also been received by the Department of Education and that the Human Rights Commissioner had warned the school it “cannot contract out of your legally binding anti-discrimination laws in this state”.

Ms Grace, who is the parent of a non-binary child, said the school’s stance was “unacceptable” and “distressing”.

“In this day and age, to see this happening, is actually quite unbelievable,” she said.

“We strive for an inclusive and supportive school environment — that is what we should be doing — and no student should be denied a world-class education because they are a member of the LGBTQI++ community.”

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace branded the contract ‘unacceptable’. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr Mulheran briefly referenced the review in his video, saying the college would be addressing it in due course.

This comes as more than 131,600 people have signed a petition demanding the college recall the amended enrolment contract.

“Citipointe is using their religious beliefs to openly discriminate against queer and trans students, as well as threatening to take away their education,” the Change.org petition started by Bethany Lau states.

“Sign the petition to show Citipointe that we will not stand for such blatant transphobia and homophobia.”

The Australian Christian Lobby has also created its own petition, accusing activists of waiting Christian schools to “abandon biblical truth”.

“They’re taking online signatures from all over the world to smear Christian schools and erode their values,” the ACL said in an email.

More than 12,000 people have signed the petition to “defend the rights of Christian schools to operate according to biblical values”.

Australian comedian and content creator, Christian Hull, is among those who have publicly called out the school for its updated contract, blasting it as “sickening” and damaging to young people.

“The new contract is utterly disgusting and discriminatory. I cannot believe in 2022 we are still here and still fighting these battles,” he wrote on Instagram.

“I understand religion brings about a community spirit and there are many faithful people who also highly disagree with the stance that Citipointe is taking.

“We need to stamp out this type of blatant bigotry and not allow the school to act in this way.”