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'Dangerous and misinformed': Anti-Safe Schools flyers distributed around Perth
Anti-Safe Schools pamphlets distributed to homes in across Perth have been branded 'dangerous' by WA LGBTI advocacy groups.
WAtoday understand pamphlets have been delivered to homes in Gosnells, Huntingdale, Mandurah, Mount Lawley, Fremantle and Rossmoyne in the last four months, and detailed why the controversial Safe Schools program should not be implemented in WA.
Some claims listed inside the pamphlet included:
"Children are taught that they should not use the term "boys and girls" and being heterosexual is not the norm."
"Safe Schools tells students they have two virginities, their first time with a boy and first time with a girl."
"Safe Schools pressures children to celebrate homosexuality and transgenderism."
The flyer was also published in conjunction with an advertisement in the Post Newspaper, and promoted local WA organisation All Kids Matter Australia (AKMA).
It is understood the advertisement was commissioned by a North Cottesloe Primary School parent.
The program has been rolled out across Australia over the last few months. Some parents believe the material is too mature for its target audience.
"A concerned family approached the Post as their local newspaper about posting this advertisement, once they had undertaken research into Safe Schools in the Eastern states," an AKMA spokesperson said.
"There are no further plans for publicity."
Perth residents who have received the flyers have since lashed out at the organisation through social media, and called for the distribution of the flyers to stop.
"I wish I'd seen who posted it! I'd have chased after them to give them a piece of my mind!" one posted.
"Oh wow, free cat-litter delivered straight to my letterbox. What a public service!" another said.
Despite the backlash, AKMA have continued to stand firm on the content of the pamphlets.
"Information published on the All Kids Matter leaflet can either be found within or linked to the resources of the Safe Schools Coalition and is therefore already presently accessible to students," they said.
"Additional information on the leaflet relayed the lived experiences of those who have felt bullied as a result of a school-based anti-bullying program.
"As parents, we hope that an anti-bullying program might bring about a decrease in bullying and a building up of respect for every child whoever they are.
"When the reverse happens, and it is happening as a result of this program, then we question whether aspects of the program need to be addressed and rewritten, or merely removed."
However, in a blog post posted to the AKMA website, the organisation admitted reactions to the flyer had been mixed.
"Out of all the responses we have received to our simple yellow flyer, two-fifths have been positive," they said.
"One-fifth has been regular enquiries from people who had never heard of Safe Schools.
"Another fifth has been negative and containing some nasty and unprintable name-calling, and the final fifth has been a barrage of sign-ups to gay porn websites, fetish clubs - all done on our behalf and without our permission."
Perth advocacy groups have also raised serious concerns about the content of the flyers, calling them 'fundamentally untrue', 'misinformed' and 'fear-mongering'.
Save Safe Schools spokesman James Massey said the pamphlets contained a number of errors that needed to be corrected.
"All the stuff they're claiming is a part of Safe Schools; there's one claim in there that they said Safe Schools teaches that it's possible to lose two virginities. There's nowhere in the program where that's said," Mr Massey said.
"The main problem we've got with these pamphlets is that they are full of lies and misinformation... we want to help spread actual facts about the [Safe Schools] program but we're not sure we have the resources to do these sorts of large-scale letterbox drops.
"There is a lot of information out there, and the Labor Government has committed to fund the program. We're just concerned if there's enough backlash from people, they might choose to scale back funding or even stop funding it."
A number of claims in the pamphlets appear to be more closely related to the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program in Victoria, rather than Safe Schools. The RRRR program has previously attracted criticism due to its teachings of gender and sexuality among primary school students.
"If this kind of information continues to circulate], I'd like to see more direct engagement with Safe Schools themselves. I'd like them [AKMA] to actually read the resources on offer, why they're on offer and what their aim is," Mr Massey said.
It has also been reported a number of the letter drops have been to homes near local schools, and Bayswater student Taylor* said he was shocked when he came across the pamphlet and its contents.
"I honestly don't know how I would've reacted if I had have seen this flyer when I was going through the process of accepting myself," he said.
"There are so many things that I could point out in this flyer that I believe are wrong... if this flyer continues to be handed out, the hate will increase, therefore leading to so many more problems for LGBTI youth than they already have to face."
According the National LGBTI Health Alliance figures, Australian LGBTI young people aged 16 to 27 are five times more likely to attempt suicide in their lifetime, while transgender people are nearly 11 times more likely.
Also according to beyondblue figures, LGBTI youth living in Australia were twice as likely to experience anxiety disorders in comparison with the broader population, and are three times as likely to experience depression and related disorders.
"I find it extremely ironic that the organisation spreading this flyer is named 'All Kids Matter' yet they are [promoting] not accepting such a large group of loving kids," Taylor said.
"If they claim that all kids matter, then it's time they try and show it by spreading love and acceptance for once."
Since the program's launch in September, 31 WA education institutions have signed up to the Safe Schools Coalition.
Georgiana Molloy Anglican School, Perth Waldorf School, Presbyterian Ladies College and Sowilo Community High School are the only private institutions signed up with the program in WA.
Former Education Minister Peter Collier has previously expressed his concerns with the Safe Schools program.
"There are aspects of the Safe Schools program that do show empathy and I'm not going to condemn the program itself, but there are other aspects of the program that are very, very edgy," he said.
"It's once again the federal government implementing a policy without any consultation with the states whatsoever.
"It is always going to end in tears. Education must be under the jurisdiction of the state governments."
Students at Mount Lawley Senior High School complained to parents and officials when two unidentified adults handed out flyers outside the school in March last year.
*Name changed to protect privacy
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