WST member sent a letter to Education Minister Jo Palmer about the impacts of social transition in schools, the role of social media in rapid onset gender dysphoria and safety bathroom policy
Contents of the letter…
Dear Jo Palmer,
I’m writing this letter to make you aware of the increasingly troubled teaching of gender ideology at schools in Tasmania. Recently The UK Goverment announced that it will be updating their Relationship and Sex education guidelines at schools, the idea that gender is a spectrum is a contested one, and children should focus on facts and proper scientific knowledge. Another important thing to note is the benefits of parental involvement in their children’s learning.
Contrary to what LGBTQ+ lobby groups want us to believe, gender ideology at schools doesn’t make children safer and leaves young girls not only unsafe but sometimes traumatized. An example of this is recently a year 9 school students were given a very explicit class on sex-ed by Headspace Beri where the practice of bestiality was discussed, and that this is what the + in LGBTQ+ includes. In another high school, bathrooms were converted into unisex toilets leaving girls terrified of harrasment and unable to use them, examples of these sex exclusionary policies and the mental damage they cause to young girls abound.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13322419/Brisbane-State-High-School-unisex-toilets.html
The mental health of children is getting worse by the minute, high levels of anxiety and bullying are still experienced in school settings, in fact the so-called inclusive policies which were put in place have proven to be more damaging and exclusive. Who would have thought that telling children they were born in the wrong body and a more explicit sex ed could make them feel more depressed, isolated and confused.
Social media also plays a significant role in the lifes of school students, Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria which a few years ago was unheard of, is a social contagion affecting primarily young girls, this is fueled by social media influencers and peer pressure. Children are being socially transitioned at schools without parental knowledge, and despite what gender lobby gropus say, social transition is the first step to medical transitition. Last year, members from Safeguarding Children in Schools Australia delivered a document to all schools in Tasmania called Asleep at the Wheel: An examination of Gender and Safegurding at Schools, we are enclosing a copy to this email to your consideration, one of the many recommendations is that schools should not facilitate social transition.
Another issue that I would like to raise with you is the Safer Student Bathroom Program, where toilets at 42 high schools and district school sites will be upgraded to individual private cubicles with basins. No more details were given, and as I mentioned before these types of toilets aren’t safer for young girls and do not provide the privacy required. We are attaching a copy of Toilet Matters document for your consideration
In summary, gender ideology at schools puts our children in danger. Despite claims over the last few years that science was behind it, now we have scientific evidence that the exact opposite is true. Even worse than that, it can result in children being up to twelve times more likely to self harm. This shocking and stark reality calls for an immediate halt to any policies or decisions based on ‘gender ideology’, and a full and complete investigation of how an ideology so wrong, and so damaging, was allowed to take such a strong foothold in our institutions to begin with.
We look forward to being able to establish a long term dialouge with your office as one short letter with the above links barely scratches the surface of the studies completed worldwide, and the resulting rollbacks in policies there and this deserves immediate attention and action.
Elizabeth Caballero Pastor (retired GP)
Women Speak Tasmania
Jo Palmer Letter to WST 23.08.24