Contentious laws that permit private schools to expel students for being gay have recently become a topical issue in Sydney.
Though few, if any, cases of such expulsions are known of, many members of the community have become concerned with some Christian schools’ anti-homosexual stances.
Under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, it is unlawful for public schools and educational institutions to discriminate against or expel students on the basis of homosexuality, transgender status and other traits, but private schools and colleges are explicitly exempt from these provisions.
The article ‘Homosexuality is no longer an abomination, says Penrith Christian School’, written by SMH education editor Josephine Tovey on 29 August 2013, provides a good insight into this issue.
Soon to be PM Tony Abbott had visited Penrith Christian School that day, to announce his party’s plans to turn public schools into independent schools, but his visit “thrust the school and its homophobic Statement of Faith into the spotlight” wrote Tovey.
According to the article, the Statement listed a range of views, including that homosexuality and homosexual acts are an “abomination unto God”.
Not long after the statement made headlines, Christian Schools Australia said the school was going to review the statement because it came from an older translation of the Bible, which is “not in step with modern language and doesn’t reflect the attitude that the school has to the treatment of people who identify as homosexual”.
This issue is interesting because it highlights shifting perceptions of what is right/wrong and acceptable/unacceptable within our culture as well as the power relations that shape and dictate culture.
As Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007) explain in Culture and Education, some people believe that our values and beliefs are inherently ‘natural’, but for others a more plausible reason for why we see things the way we do, is because of some people pushing their values and interest onto others. (p. 21-22)
According to theorists who subscribe to this view, what is considered ‘normal’ is simply the result of dominant members of one group pushing their ideas and values onto others. This seems to reflect quite nicely, the state of homosexual attitudes in Australia.
For years discrimination against homosexuals has gone unnoticed or without question, because of the ruling class’ attitude that it was ‘wrong’. A dominance of Christian culture in Australia, which does not permit homosexuality, has certainly helped underpin this view.
But as homosexuality becomes more accepted within society, and religion loses some of its sway, anti-gay behaviour is being increasingly frowned upon and even considered ‘backward’.
While many Christian conservatives maintain their anti-homosexual views, the gay rights movement has certainly supported a genuine shift in tolerance of anti-gay behaviour and the fact that Christian Schools Australia came out so quickly to state it would review its Statement of Faith is indicative that culture may be changing as power relations shift.
References:
Tovey, J. (2013). Homosexuality is no longer an abomination, Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved 29 August 2013:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/homosexuality-is-no-longer-an-abomination-says-penrith-christian-school-20130829-2st05.html
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education, Sydney, Pearson Education
Sexuality has always been at the forefront of the media backlash and current news trends. This is probably not because it is a big issue, but everyone just seems to have a comment on it. Referring to my colleague's above blog post, we are able to see that there are startling different opinions based on how people should behave and chose to affiliate themselves with. Understandably, in a schooling environment, teachers and staff should be aware of all relationships and sexual activity, regardless of who they are between, in case this negatively affects the student involved or their education.
ReplyDeleteBinary oppositions come into context in this sense: classification systems are "the categories and systems of ordering that cultures use to divide the world up in order to make sense of it" (Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd 2007:13). This then raises the idea of defining ourselves and others by what we are not. Phillips (2006:4) supports this idea of 'us' and 'them' as she identifies that by choosing to identify yourself as a certain culture, and ignoring values and ethics associated with others, actually "makes culture almost by definition oppositional. 'My' culture means 'not yours." In terms of homosexuality within the schooling environment, it certainly is a way of identifying yourself and your interests. Everybody is entitled to have their own culture, just like everybody is entitled to having feelings for someone, regardless of their sex.
But let's make reference to another media article concerning this issue. Lisa Cox, of the Canberra Times, published an article on October 19th, 2013 which describes how students in 2003-2005 were counselled based on their sexual affiliations: "Two former students of a Canberra private school say they were required to undergo counselling for their homosexuality while they attended the school." Although this can be taken as a means of helping the students understand and come to terms with their sexuality, they claim that these counselling sessions were in an attempt "to convince them that being gay was wrong, that they were not actually gay, or that their sexuality could be changed" (Cox 2013).
I know. Even in these modern times, this type of discrimination and complete objectification is disgusting.
Each person has their own culture, beliefs, values and identity. Sexuality is within these concepts.
Reference List:
Lisa Cox, 'Gay student say school tried to correct them.' October 19th, 2013. Canberra Times. Accessed online at http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/gay-students-say-school-tried-to-correct-them-20131018-2vsro.html
Phillips, A. (2006). What is ‘Culture’? Print. Available online at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21699/
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and Education. Australia: Pearson Education. Print.