Time to Educate Children To Accept Gender Diversity

by norrie mAy welby

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

It's time to have acceptance of diversity taught in all schools that take public money, including religious schools, according to senators [are Members of the New South Wales Upper House of Parliament called senators?] attending the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

There was a small but dedicated group gathered at Parliament House in Macquarie Street on November 20 to remember transgendered people who have been murdered, and address the violence and fear systemically affecting transgendered people. There was a screening of "A Girl Like Me", a telemovie about a transgendered Latino teenager beaten savagely to death by a group of homophobic men in the United States in 2002.

Kate Walker delivered the keynote address on the topic of violence and homicide practised against transgenders, illustrating her points with chilling statistics.

This was followed by a short break and then discussion with a panel which included New South Wales Upper House M.P.s Penny Sharpe (A.L.P.) and Lee Rhiannon (Greens), and other long-term advocates for transgendered people.

Penny Sharpe M.L.C. (A.L.P.) told of her experiences as a same-sex-partnered parent of primary school students, and spoke of the State Government's support for diversity in education. Lee Rhiannon-Jones M.L.C. (Greens) said she had moved a private bill to clean up gaps left in the Anti Discrimination Act exempting private religious schools. Rhiannon-Jones told the panel this bill will not be heard until Parliament resumes next year, and only then if there is considerable support gathered for it.

The gathering discussed personal survival stories and reactions, and vigorously supported the need for focused education at all levels to support acceptance of diversity.

It was agreed that much depends on our willingness to help ourselves pro-actively rather than waiting for others to make our case.

Comment from norrie mAy welby: The writer is regularly taunted as "tranny, tranny" by ignorant children who sometimes throw missiles. I have survived forty-five years and a bus, and am living in fear of nobody no way no how.

Comment from Katherine Cummings: Although, as I have said in my editorial, I was pleased and proud to be part of the celebration of the Day of Remembrance, I could not help noting that a significant part of our discussion consisted of criticism of those who are trying to help. The Gender Centre came in for criticism, which is not unusual, but so did the Anti-Discrimination Board, which was unfortunate, as we should all be aware that the current Federal Government has reduced the staff of the former A.D.B. to a shadow of its former strength, and they simply do not have the resources to cope with all the demands on their service.

Nor, incidentally, does the Gender Centre, although our funding comes from the State. Recent reductions in the frequency of publication of Polare, the need to cut down the numbers of the magazine sent out to various clinics and organisations and the imposition of a subscription rate for subscribers outside New South Wales are all indications of the drying up of financial resources for social services of all kinds.

I feel the time has come for more positive action on our own behalf. I am not talking of mobs besieging Parliament with placards and mindless chanting but rather the presentation of specific strategies to ameliorate our situation, strategies to be submitted where they can do the most good, whether that is to Parliament, to governmental departments and non-governmental agencies, or to the media.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.