The Tasmanian Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) recently shared a celebratory post about attending the Pride Parade, highlighting their commitment to “creating a safe and supportive environment for children, young people and their families.” On the surface, it sounds inclusive—and yet, for Women Speak Tasmania, it’s deeply troubling.
When “Safety” Becomes Gender Ideology
In our experience, phrases like “safe and supportive” often become euphemisms for promoting gender ideology in schools. These initiatives commonly introduce messages that:
- Suggest children may be “born in the wrong body.”
- Encourage transitioning at a young age.
- Promote unsafe practices like breast binding.
- Overlook girls’ discomfort when boys—particularly those identifying as transgender—use girls’ toilets or participate in girls’ sports.
- Introduce age-inappropriate sex education without parental consent.
If repeated regularly, such messaging conditions children to accept gender fluidity as standard and unchallengeable.
Respectful, Not Exclusionary
Some of our members were active in campaigns for marriage equality and continue to support love and diversity.
What we oppose is the erosion of women-only spaces, the hijacking of language (e.g., terms like “uterus-haver” or “birthing parent”), and the widespread adoption of medicalized pathways for gender affirmation in young people.
When these views—and the harms they may inflict—are raised, many dismiss dissenting voices as “hateful,” “bigoted,” or “transphobic.”
But real kindness includes listening and engaging—not silencing women and girls whose concerns reflect biology, ethics, and safeguarding.
Why We Won’t Celebrate
Until women regain the right to dignity and safety, and children are properly protected from unvetted ideologies and interventions, we do not participate in school Pride events.
We cannot cheer for practices that:
- Expose children to irreversible decisions and physical risks.
- Compromise single-sex spaces for women—places including toilets, shelters, and sports.
- Erode language that reflects biological sex and lived reality.
That’s not inclusion. It’s disregard. And not kindness at all.