Same-sex marriage: TV ad features mothers pushing No message

A principal has disputed a mother’s claim her son was told he could wear a dress to school, as aired in an anti-same sex marriage ad.

‘We don’t know what we’re voting on’: Cella White in Melbourne yesterday. Picture: Aaron Francis

A mother’s claim that her son was told he could wear a dress to school, as aired in an anti-same sex marriage advertisement, is false, a Melbourne principal says.

Cella White, whose son goes to Frankston High School, appears in the Coalition for Marriage’s television commercial last night saying “the school told my son he could wear a dress next year if he felt like it”.

But school principal John Albiston said the offer was never made. “She said it happened in a science class so we spoke to her son’s science teachers. They said it never happened,” the principal said today. “I think it’s very disappointing that she didn’t meet with me to explore her concerns.

“If we had investigated it with her ... she would have realised it wasn’t happening.”

Mr Albiston said Ms White had previously raised concerns about the Safe Schools program, aimed at educating students about sexual and gender diversity. “I guess I wasn’t shocked (by her claims in this advertisement) because I’ve heard her claims so many times on the media ... she’s very outspoken,” Mr Albiston said.

A voluntary postal vote on whether to legalise same-sex marriage will be held next month unless it’s blocked by a looming High Court challenge.

The Coalition for Marriage launched its first national ­television advertising campaign encouraging parents to vote against same-sex marriage, warning that they could lose control of ­gender programs taught to schoolchildren.

The advertisement — backed by the key organisation behind the No campaign — is the first in a series aimed at highlighting broader consequences it argues could arise from the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia.

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The anti-gay marriage advertisement immediately triggered a hostile response from Bill Shorten, who said it featured “total ­rubbish” and was “offensive and hurtful to LGBTI Australians and their families”.

“This is not freedom of speech. This is freedom to hurt,” the ­Opposition Leader said.

“This is exactly what was predicted when Malcolm Turnbull decided to waste $122 million on a postal survey.”

The marriage equality ­campaign attacked it as a “dishonest ad” that sought to divide and mislead Australians. Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady said the advertisement was part of a “daily dose of red herrings” served up by a “huge bucket of cash”.

There were more extreme responses from some gay rights ­activists led by Michael Barnett, who tweets as ­“mikeybear”. On Twitter, Mr Barnett accused those opposing same-sex marriage of murdering kids, including Australian Christian Lobby managing ­director Lyle Shelton.

“Those f..kwits opposing ­Marriage Equality by telling kids to reject homosexuality are murdering those kids. I blame Lyle Shelton @RNDrive,” he tweeted.

“Lyle Shelton, you and your hate lobby cohort are murderers”.

Mr Shelton said last night there was no place for “this sort of abuse”. “It does not augur well for freedom of speech should the law ever change. This individual, who is a leading public voice in the same-sex marriage movement, has a history of threatening those with whom he disagrees. We ­welcome civil debate but not abuse,” he said.

Another mother says that when same-sex marriage was passed overseas, LGBTI programs became more widely spread with one of the key campaign slogans featured in the advertisement saying: “In countries with gay marriage, parents have lost their right to choose.” The advertisement tells viewers: “We have a choice. You can say no.”

The third mother in the advertisement voices concern that her child was asked by the school to play-out a gay relationship in class. “Kids in Year 7 are being asked to role-play being in a same-sex relationship,” she says.

Cella White in the advertisement.

The advertisement will run on the free-to-air commercial networks as well as pay-TV stations. Coalition for Marriage spokeswoman Sophie York said “radical LGBTIQ sex and gender education programs” had started to become mandatory for primary schools in Canada and Britain.

“Every day across the country, on social media, in coffee shops, in mothers’ groups and at BBQs, hundreds of thousands of parents are speaking to each other about the impacts of radical LGBTIQ sex and gender education programs,” she said.

Ms White told The Australian that some supporters of the Yes campaign were trying to silence those who supported ­traditional ­marriage and “put a negative tone on what we’re trying to say.”

“At this point in time we have a fighting chance to push back on this gender theory and teachings in schools,” she said.

“But once the Marriage Act is changed we don’t, so get that postal vote in and vote No.

“At this stage for me, I don’t ­actually know what I’m voting on.

“I haven’t seen the bill and the public hasn’t seen the bill. We’re all voting but we don’t know what we’re voting on.”