Gendered-term ban: NT education department taking politics too far

A dunce’s cap awaits those responsible for the education department’s draft gender guidelines, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM.

AUSTRALIA is an incredibly tolerant place.

The Northern Territory even more so.

It’s a multicultural melting pot that includes tens of thousands of people from around the globe who have come here seeking a better life.

The land of opportunity with a live-and-let-live attitude.

In Darwin residents voted resoundingly in favour of same-sex marriage in the 2017 plebiscite.

This newspaper campaigned in support of that vote on its front page.

The pedestrian crossing in the middle of our city is painted in rainbow colours and nobody seems particularly upset about that.

For two decades our most popular late-night venue has been a gay nightclub frequented by a huge number of heterosexual patrons.

But Territorians also possess a remarkably good bullshit radar. Which is why there’s been an extraordinary backlash to the NT Government’s plans to insert some new extreme left-wing ideology into our education system.

Draft guidelines on diverse sex, sexuality and gender identity in schools sent out for consultation by the NT Education Department included recommendations that teachers stop calling students boys and girls as it “confirms gender stereotyping and roles and can be alienating for gender questioning and gender diverse children”.

“Avoid this by using vocabulary such as “students’, ‘class’, ‘crew’, ‘everyone’, ‘people’ or ‘year X’ that are more inclusive,” the document says.

There were also plans for “non-gendered” sports days with girls presumably forced to run against boys. It’s hard to escape the conclusion those girls could soon be discriminated against in the name of ending discrimination.

When this story made national headlines on Wednesday, Federal Labor Leader Anthony Albanese said: “Girls should be able to run against girls.”

Many people would consider that statement uncontroversial.

The guidelines had been written in the apparent promotion of tolerance. But there’s a strong argument they could be doing the opposite.

Consider this line following a recommendation that children should be able to use the toilets, showers and sleeping quarters of their affirmed gender on school excursions and overnight stays:

“If a child, or their peers, do not agree that they would feel safe and comfortable sharing, seek alternative solutions and acknowledge that this is an indication of possible exclusionary behaviour and potential bullying toward the LGBTQI child,” the guidelines say.

The inference here seems to be that if you object to our worldview you are a bigot and must be pulled into line.

It’s little wonder the NT Government started backtracking at a million miles an hour once these plans became public on Tuesday afternoon.

Education Minister Lauren Moss speaks at a press conference as kids go back to school at Moil Primary Picture: Glenn Campbell

Education Minister Lauren Moss issued a statement saying the Government would not be banning teachers from calling students boys and girls.

This was interesting because at a press conference just a few hours earlier she had spoken in strong support of many of the recommendations contained in the guidelines. Now the Government says this is an outdated document, but in the four days since it has been unable to produce the updated version.

You can bet some public servants are working furiously on that particular document as we speak, presumably removing all the bits that might sound good on the campus of a Melbourne university, but are unlikely to pass muster with Mr and Mrs Malak.

Lauren Moss’s support for this project is well-intentioned. “I think it’s really important that we are creating welcoming and inclusive environments for all our students and that includes our students who are LGBTQI,” she said on Tuesday.

Few reasonable people would disagree.

But these guidelines seem to be a drastic overreach in pursuit of that goal, based on the incorrect assumption that Territorians are a bunch of rednecks who can’t be trusted treat all people with dignity and respect.

These misplaced assumptions are usually cast on us by hoity-toity types from the inner suburbs of our biggest cities, who wouldn’t be seen dead in the Top End.

It’s disappointing that in this case, those assumptions have been made by our own education department.