Pride speaker’s anti-Israel rhetoric and X-Rated content rattle Melbourne school
A top Melbourne private boys school has apologised after students uncovered explicit pornographic content linked to a queer pro-Palestinian Pride speaker.
A prestigious Melbourne private school has blamed the Victorian Pride Centre for failing to vet a Queer pro-Palestinian man with explicit sexual content on his public social media.
Trinity Grammar School in Kew, where annual tuition fees exceed $40,000, has been embroiled in controversy after hosting founder of Queer Arab Australia Basem Kerbage during an assembly last week as part of the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria’s (AGSV) Pride Round.
Mr Kerbage addressed young students in a speech that some later said they found confronting after discovering a video of the pro-Palestinian activist deep-throating a dildo.
The discovery sparked outrage among parents and prompted a formal response from the school.
Trinity Grammar has distanced itself from Mr Kerbage, saying it was the Victorian Pride Centre’s responsibility to vet the speaker and pledged to make a more rigorous “internal screening” process for potential future speakers.
In an email to families, Trinity’s Deputy Principal and Head of Senior School Susan Hill said the school shared concerns.
“I know that there has been some concern raised regarding the online activity of our guest speaker. I share the concern,” Ms Hill wrote.
“Some of the material that was publicly accessible was not appropriate for schools.
“We certainly regret that some of you accessed and were confronted by some of this material. We have made our significant concern regarding this known to his organisation.”
Ms Hill defended the school’s commitment to “inclusion and kindness” but acknowledged the need for discretion when selecting guest speakers.
“The ideal of inclusion and kindness at Trinity overrides any guest speaker, any personal point of difference or any time of disagreement,” she said.
She also hinted at broader tensions in the Middle East impacting schools domestically.
“At a time when we witness various parts of the world struggle to maintain peace, we know that tensions will be heightened.
“It is exactly that time when we need to double down on the importance of us being respectful members of our multi-faceted, multi-cultured, multi-faith and multi-talented school community.”
In an email to parents, Trinity Grammar principal Adrian Farrer said they had “trusted” the Pride Centre to recommend a speaker suitable for a school event.
“We apologise to our community for not undertaking our own assurance process in this case,” Mr Farrer wrote.
“We have introduced a rigorous screening process for potential future speakers and will no longer rely on the guarantees of any external organisations about the suitability of a proposed speaker for our community.”
The Victorian Government granted the Pride Centre $25 million in taxpayer funded money in 2023, according to latest figures available.
The Australian understands the Victorian Pride Centre quickly scrubbed his profile from their speakers list on Monday morning.
It’s also understood the school’s assembly included students ranging from Year 7 to Year 12.
A concerned parent of one student from the school told The Australian there had been widespread outrage by parents in the wake of the choice of speaker at last week’s Pride Assembly.
“The individual was invited by the school to speak at the assembly without informing parents – despite the speaker having a very disturbing online profile depicting pornographic views,” the parent said.
“We pay extremely high fees to Trinity, on the assumption that the school will uphold Christian values and social standards. On this occasion it failed in this duty of care to our sons.
“A clear lack of due diligence allowed a radical speaker to come onto school grounds and address the boys, ranging in age from 12-18, at an assembly.”
In a July 2024 speech, Mr Kerbage accused Israel of exploiting LGBTQ+ rights as a propaganda tool through what he called “pinkwashing.”
He questioned Israel’s portrayal as a “safe haven for queer people in the Middle East”, citing the illegality of same-sex marriage, “discrimination against Palestinians”, and alleged surveillance tactics used by Israeli intelligence to “entrap” and blackmail “queer Palestinians.”
“In 2023, one of the darkest acronyms in the world was created, WCNSF, Wounded Child, No Surviving Family,” he said.
“A term created due to Israel’s genocide on Palestine. How many of those queer WCNSF children would rather have a family member alive than accept Israel’s quest for queer rights,” he questioned.
A spokesperson for Victorian Pride Centre said they will launch a review of their vetting process, adding there was no issues raised with the speech given at the school.
“We do not vet every social media post of the speakers on our program and we regret this has caused offence,” the spokesperson said.
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