Gay author asked to ‘skip’ queer parts of his book during talk at Catholic school

A Catholic school has been slammed after making a traumatising request of a popular Australian author ahead of a book talk they booked him for.

One of Australia’s most popular young adult authors has revealed a Catholic school asked him to not speak about “same-sex topics” during a talk to students.

Will Kostakis has for me than 10 years “sucked it up” when schools have asked that he skirt around queer topics while delivering talks to students.

Now, he is taking a stand.

The same request was made of him recently by staff at All Saints Catholic College in Liverpool, in Sydney’s southwest, which booked him to speak to 1200 Year 7 to 10 students in August.

The school’s question was disclosed in an email shared with news.com.au and read: “If it’s possible skip over the same sex components when discussing his story and books”.

Mr Kostakis, having been asked the same thing time and again, responded with a statement outlining the far-reaching consequences of telling someone to essentially “hide”.

Author Will Kostakis was asked to skip over queer parts of his talk at All Saints Catholic College. Picture: Supplied

“Being gay, much like being Greek, is a vital piece of who I am and it informs what I write. I find it deeply disrespectful, fifteen years into my career, to be asked that I ‘skip over’ it (I think ‘hide’ is a more honest word)”, part of his response read.

Speaking with news.com.au, Mr Kostakis described how saddening it was that students would miss out on what would have otherwise been an enormously enriching experience.

“With this sort of stuff – what message are we sending to our young people?” he said.

“There is nothing more wonderful than encouraging students and empowering teenagers who we fear are too addicted to their phones and have no interest in reading.”

Having someone like him visit his own school when he was a teenager, would have been profound, he added.

“If I had even so much as seen someone like me, or read a book like mine, I would have hated myself just that little bit less,” he said.

The students, Mr Kostakis stressed, were the worst impacted by him being asked to “hide”.

“The only people that this hurts are the kids from All Saints college who are going to find this out about their school. I can handle the hurt, but it’s the kids I worry about,” he said.

“Even though their queer experience is different to mine, I remember what it was like and I don’t want them to even feel a fraction of that.”

A spokesperson from All Saints Catholic College told news.com.au the school was simply exercising its right to make a “reasonable request”.

“We will not be making a comment about a specific school decision,” they said.

“It is reasonable for a school to ask questions about content with a view to the age, religious and cultural expectations of its community when engaging any guests, speakers or presenters. No disrespect is in any way intended.”

The school has claimed it was within its right to make the ‘reasonable’ request. Picture: Google Maps

Such reactions to his work have impacted his ability to earn income, forcing him to contemplate what his future as an author looked like.

“It’s really dispiriting. Especially after the pandemic when so many authors, like me, lost our livelihoods... it’s really tough,’ he explained.

“So often it’s marginalised writers that are told their work is political or controversial, and we don’t get the same opportunities. Then I’m at the point where I’m like, ‘do I need a Christmas casual job this year?’.”

Marginalised authors’ names were too often mixed in with controversies instead of celebrated for the quality of their work, Mr Kostakis said.

The 34-year-old, who typically presents to schools between two and four times a week, detailed how crucial the bookings were to his ability to earn a living, with school talks making up about 80 per cent of his income.

“If an author can’t go into schools and talk, they can’t reach their readership and if we get the stink on us for being queer, then our books can’t be studied,” he said.

“Then those books fail and kids end up reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the 70th year in a row.”

Catholic affiliated schools were not always unaccepting, Mr Kostakis said, with many being open in their support for the LGBTQI+ community, sometimes even more so than public schools.

“It’s really jarring. It’s the inconsistency that gets me,” he said.

“I would love it if someone from the Catholic diocese articulated their thoughts so I knew exactly where I stood, instead of me just hoping some Catholic schools are going to be OK.”

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