Parents at one of Melbourne’s top private schools have been left outraged after a Palestinian Pride activist with a controversial social media presence was invited to speak to students.
A Palestinian Pride activist with a controversial social media presence has spoken at an Anglican boys’ school, enraging parents and upsetting students.
After the event, boys from Trinity Grammar in Kew quickly downloaded a clip of the speaker, Basem Kerbage, appearing to deep-throat a dildo from his Instagram page.
The video — which had no link to Mr Kerbage’s speaking event — was quickly shared by boys from years seven to ten who attended the speech, which was part of a Pride Week event about different forms of love.
Mr Kerbage’s Instagram has now been switched to private and the video is no longer visible.
The divisive choice of speaker lit up year-level WhatsApp groups, with many irate parents saying they “don’t like the direction the school is heading” and they are “deeply disturbed and appalled”.
One explained that the dildo video was easily found after students were told by their speaker to search “visualise your goals”.
That led to the lewd social media post which includes what one task called “a dildo hand job challenge”.
One parent, whose son showed her the video, said it made her feel “ashamed” and “angry”.
Mr Kerbage is a self-described “Queer/Human Rights activist” whose motto is “be the change you want to see in the world”.
He is also the founder of Queer Arabs Australia.
Mr Kerbage did the Trinity presentation last week to the year seven to ten school boys wearing a traditional Palestinian scarf, the keffiyeh.
That has also upset many members of the Jewish community at the school who said they felt “marginalised and forgotten”.
One parent said: “Many parents are furious that the school failed to undertake due diligence in this young gay man’s extreme sex content digital footprint”.
In response to some parents, the school said the annual Pride assembly “seeks to celebrate inclusion and diversity in our community”.
“This year’s assembly included a guest speaker sourced from a reputable government-sponsored organisation,” the school said.
“It has since been brought to our attention that the speakers’ social media accounts included inappropriate material including one since-deleted video which we understand the students have circulated among themselves.
“We have registered our deep concern with the organisation regarding the nature of the public facing material and their vetting process.”
“We regret any misunderstanding or disappointment experienced by members of our school community and for any negative impact.
“We are reviewing our process of selection for speakers.”
The Herald Sun has approached Trinity for a response.
Cyber safety expert Susan McLean said she had been contacted by several Trinity parents who were concerned about the choice of speaker.
“He (Mr Kerbage) arrived with a Palestinian scarf which was distressing to some students and when students ran his name through Google on socials they were confronted with some extremely inappropriate pornographic content,” she said.
“How any school did not check this first is a concern.”
Ms McLean said she was concerned about the approval process for guest speakers.
“If this is allowed to happen, what checks and balances are in place to ensure the presenters coming into Trinity or any school are suitably qualified and not going to be creating distress or harm?”
Source: The Herald Sun
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