>> 7-Year-Old Threatened With School Expulsion Over Gay Dads
[spacer]
En Australie, un couple de papas assure avoir été « invité » à retirer leur fille de l’école privée catholique où elle était scolarisée, après qu’elle eut évoqué en classe leur homosexualité.
« On m’a dit qu’ils ne faisaient pas la promotion des gays à l’école », a confié Brendan, l’un des deux pères, au site ‘Madurah Mail‘ : « Elle pouvait mentionner nos noms, mais sans jamais faire de références au fait que nous étions deux hommes et en couple. Autant dire qu’elle ne pouvait pas du tout parler de nous ».
Brendan, qui a fait son coming out tout récemment, avait en effet inscrit sa fille à la Foundation Christian College, accompagné à l’époque de son ex-femme. Mais, l’administration lui a fait savoir ensuite qu’elle n’aurait jamais accepté le dossier, si lors de leur première entrevue la direction avait constaté qu’il était homosexuel.
Interpelée, l’établissement a confirmé n’accepter que les enfants ayant « une mère et un père », en précisant que le conseil estimait « que les familles de même sexe n’avaient pas une vision chrétienne du monde ».
« Pourquoi ma fille doit-elle affronter cette homophobie et perdre ses meilleurs amis en raison de ce que je suis ? » explique Brendan, qui a souhaité préserver son anonymat pour éviter que son enfant ne subisse davantage de pression.
Plusieurs parents d’élèves se sont également insurgés et une pétition vient d’être lancée pour exhorter le ministre local de l’Éducation à pénaliser les écoles privées qui rejettent des enfants pour cause d’homosexualité, alors qu’elles sont financées par l’argent des contribuables.
Joëlle Berthout
StopHomophobie
[spacer]
>> Two dads in Australia say they were essentially forced to pull their 7-year-old daughter from her private Christian school after she spoke out in class about her dads being gay — and she was reprimanded by administrators, who then forbade her from ever discussing the topic again or else risk expulsion.7-Year-Old Threatened With School Expulsion Over Gay Dads7-Year-Old Threatened With School Expulsion Over Gay Dads
“I was told that they don’t promote ‘gay’ at the school and [my daughter] was unable to talk about my life between [my partner] and me,” one of the fathers, Brendan (who did not want his last name nor his daughter’s name printed in order to protect her privacy), told the Mandurah Mail. “She could mention my name, but she couldn’t talk about us being gay or relating to us as a couple, so … we were forced to say that she wasn’t allowed to talk about Daddy or [my partner] at all.”
Added Brendan, “I told them that I expected my daughter to be able to talk about home life like any other kid in the class.” The dad, who came out recently, had originally enrolled his daughter in the school, the Foundation Christian College, in a Western Australia suburb, with his ex-wife at his side — explaining it’s what prompted principal Andrew Newhouse to say “he felt they were fooled at the interview,” Brendan said. “He said to me that ‘If we knew you were gay at the interview you would never have got in this school.’”
After trying to fight for their daughter’s right to speak about her family at the school, the two men decided to withdraw her from FCC and enroll her in a public school — though it’s been difficult for the girl to leave her friends. “Why does my daughter have to go through this and lose her best friends due to the person I am?” Brendan asked. “I carry a lot of guilt and I hate that my daughter has to deal with her dad not being accepted.”
Newhouse confirmed to the newspaper that children of same-sex parents are not welcome at the school. “The [school] board are firm in their view that families have a mother and father who raise children jointly,” he told the Mandurah Mail. “The board also has a strong view that families with same-sex parents do not support a Christian world view.” Further, he added, “I mentioned to the parent that if his daughter was to continue this topic of discussion with her peers, then it would be in both his and his daughter’s interests to move to a school that would support his world view.”
Newhouse explained to 9 News that the girl was talking about “her disappointment with Tony Abbott, the then-prime minister, not allowing her dad and his partner to marry.” And the problem with that, Newhouse wrote in a letter to parents, was that “the Christian values being taught in the classroom were being undermined,” adding that “It’s not helpful to confuse children at such a young age with complex and controversial issues.”
