Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton is calling for Wear It Purple Day to be removed from Australian schools, saying classrooms—particularly primary classrooms—are no place for promoting radical LGBTQA+ sexual and gender-fluid ideology to children.
The call follows The Daily Telegraph’s report today that veteran ACT public school principal Janelle Rowe was driven from a 34-year teaching career after a bitter disciplinary dispute that began after she resisted promoting Wear It Purple Day at her primary school.
Mr Shelton said Ms Rowe should be applauded for putting the best interests of children and the rights of parents first.
“Janelle Rowe should be regarded as a hero for having the courage to say what countless Australian parents are thinking: four-year-olds do not need LGBTQA+ sexual and gender concepts introduced to them at school,” Mr Shelton said.
“If I’m elected to the NSW Parliament next March, I will introduce legislation to remove gender fluid and LGBTQA+ sexual indoctrination of children from schools,” Mr Shelton said.
“Schools should teach children to treat every person with dignity and respect and should have zero tolerance for bullying.
“But that does not require schools to promote harmful ideas about sexuality and gender identity to infants and primary-school children.
“Wear It Purple Day should be banned from Australian schools, not the brave teachers who call it out.”
According to The Daily Telegraph, Ms Rowe sought to replace Wear It Purple Day with Bullying No Way Week, which she considered a more age-appropriate and inclusive approach to addressing bullying.
Ms Rowe told the newspaper that matters surrounding sexuality and gender for children aged four to 12 belonged primarily with parents and families, rather than teachers.
The newspaper reported that after Ms Rowe resisted the event she was called into head office, faced concerns about her professional performance, was placed under supervision and was directed to celebrate Wear It Purple Day.
Her lawyer, Human Rights Law Alliance managing director John Steenhof, told the Telegraph that documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws contained highly positive assessments of Ms Rowe’s previous performance, including descriptions of her as “outstanding” and “highly capable”.
Mr Shelton said the case raised serious questions about ideological conformity within education bureaucracies.
“A principal with 34 years of experience should be free to say that sexual and gender ideology is inappropriate for four-year-olds without fearing for her career,” Mr Shelton said.
“Parents send their children to school to learn literacy, numeracy, science, history and the other foundations of a good education—not to have schools insert themselves into deeply personal questions of sexuality and gender identity.
“Respecting people who identify as LGBT does not require schools to teach children that sex is fluid or that gender identity can override biological reality.
“Children should be protected from adult ideological battles, not recruited into them.
“Education ministers across Australia should act. Keep Wear It Purple Day out of schools, restore parental primacy and allow teachers and principals to concentrate on educating children.
“Sadly the education unioss has ceased to be an employee representative body and become an activist organisation because it's refusing to stand up for a member in a fight with the department.”
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Lyle Shelton, Family First National Director
Email: [email protected]
Contact details:
