Christian school slammed over threat to expel transgender students

A Brisbane Pentecostal school that likens homosexuality to paedophilia has been reported to a government accreditation board.

A protest outside Citipointe Christian College in Brisbhan’s Carindale on Monday. Picture: Richard Walker

A Christian college that is threatening to expel “sinful’’ trans­gender students has been reported to a private schooling watchdog after forcing parents to sign contracts that children will “identify as their birth gender’’.

In a flashpoint for controversy over the Morrison government’s proposed law shielding religious groups from discrimination, Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane is threatening to expel any students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

And it is forcing parents to sign a new 2022 enrolment contract accepting that their children must behave “on the basis of the individual’s biological sex’’.

A furious Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace blasted the school’s actions as “unacceptable’’.

“The ‘values’ in this document don’t seem very Christian to me,’’ she said. “Every student deserves to feel accepted and supported.”

Ms Grace said she would refer the matter to the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board, and urged any parents or students at the school to complain to the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

The school’s enrolment contract states: “God created human beings as male and female … we believe any form of sexual immorality (including but not limited to adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual acts, bestiality, incest, pedophilia and pornography) is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society.

“ … I/we agree that, where distinctions are made between male and female … such distinctions will be applied on the basis of the individual’s biological sex.

“The Parents acknowledge and accept that, should I/we not share the college’s commitment to fostering these fundamental doctrinal precepts, this will constitute a serious departure from the religious precepts upon which ­Citipointe Christian College is based and will afford (it) the right to exclude a student from the College who no longer adheres to the College’s doctrinal precepts including those as to biological sex.’’

The QHRC said schools were not allowed to discriminate against currently enrolled students because of their sexuality or gender identity.

“A school policy that requires a trans or gender diverse young person to be treated as their sex assigned at birth, or that requires a young person to hide or deny their sexuality, is likely to amount to unlawful discrimination,’’ it said.

More than 55,000 people signed a Change.org petition protesting against the move on Monday, including 30-year-old former student Jared Mifsud. “When you compare homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia, what kind of message are you trying to send – ­because it is not the message Jesus was trying to preach,’’ he said.

Citipointe Christian College principal Pastor Brian Mulheran refused to be interviewed but ­issued a statement that the school was “seeking to maintain our Christian ethos’’.