10 February 2017

Aust teachers banned from teaching gender theory

Family First NZ is welcoming a decision by the state of New South Wales in Australia to ban public school teachers from teaching gender theory in the classroom, and says that New Zealand should follow their lead.

According to the report in The Australian, students in NSW will no longer be taught that gender is a “social construct”, or that sexuality is “non-binary”, occurring on a continuum and “constantly changing”. An edict encouraging teachers to “de-gender” their language will also likely be scrapped, along with sexually explicit case studies and teaching aids such as the “Genderbread Person”, which promotes the idea that there are “infinite possibilities” of gender identity.

“These are similar resources and ideology being pushed in NZ schools. It’s time that Ministry of Education in NZ placed priority on scientific evidence and sound medical practice, rather than bowing to ideology and special interest groups pushing an agenda,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“Our children are being indoctrinated with the message ‘Gender refers to how you identify, someone can identify as male, female, in between, both, or neither.’ And the PPTA has told secondary schools that ‘Gender identity refers to what a person thinks of as their own gender, whether they think of themselves as a man or as a woman, irrespective of their biological sex.’ Schools are being bullied by government and advocacy groups in to adopting policies around uniforms, toilets, changing rooms, and sports teams rather than heeding the warnings and research of leading scholars and clinicians.”

"What is most disturbing is that our state education system is pushing gender ideology and assuming that children as young as six have the cognitive ability and maturity to somehow know that their biological sex is separate to their gender identity - a completely non-scientific construct," says Mr McCoskrie.

Research shows the overwhelming majority of children who experience gender dysphoria grow out of it by the time they reach puberty. And studies indicate that two-thirds of transgenders suffer from multiple disorders at the same time, which is called “comorbidity”.

“When advocacy groups and the Education Ministry are encouraging children to turn up to school confused about their gender and unsure whether to use the boys or girls toilet, it’s a recipe for disaster and confusion for all our children,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“A 143-page report published last year in the journal The New Atlantis discusses over 200 peer-reviewed studies in the biological, psychological, and social sciences, documenting what scientific research shows, and concludes that some of the most frequently heard claims about gender identity are not supported by scientific evidence. Policymakers should be concerned with how misguided school policies (such as the InsideOut programme in New Zealand) might encourage students to identify as girls when they are boys, and vice versa, and might result in prolonged difficulties. As the report notes, “There is no evidence that all children who express gender-atypical thoughts or behaviour should be encouraged to become transgender”,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“For this reason, ‘gender identity’ ideology should not be freely promoted in our New Zealand schools – as is now the decision in New South Wales.”
ENDS

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