What I find astounding is that an individual cannot believe in homosexuality. I am sure there are people who do not condone it, but how can you not believe in something that clearly exists? It is not a conspiracy against fundamentalist religion, some people are simply attracted to people of the same sex. Is that really so hard to comprehend? Clearly this young girl has been indoctrinated by her church or parents, or both. I am sure that this will not be the last time her values are going to hinder her chances at a normal life, and the individual/s that instilled these values in her should be ashamed. Both for harming the normal development of the girl, and for possibly causing her to harm others in the community.

Perhaps we could work out a compromise. Why not re-work the module which aims to teach tolerance and acceptance and at the same time celebrates our diversity.

Ask the student to imagine she is a backyard doctor about to perform the uplifting medical procedure known as FGM. The student should place herself in the shoes of the patient and comment on what strategies she would use to deal with the experience

or:

Ask the student to imagine she is in a ‘concentration camp’ in a ‘hot desert location’ behind the ‘razor wire’. The student is asked to comment on the fact that surprisingly the host nation is accused of being a racist nation yet overt racism is practiced by the inmates of the detention centre and it is ingrained into their culture to be racist; it is in fact a rich 2000-year-old tradition. The student should identify with this minority and explain how it is possible for a nation to lose its racist tag by allowing racists into the country.

Teachers have no business setting assignments about homosexuality in the first place. Nor should they be encouraging “acceptance of diversity…” when it comes to sexual perversion. Kids seem to be leaving school with little knowledge of areas they will need to work and survive in the modern world already; they don’t needs their heads full of the behaviour of weirdos.

The 13-year-old child is to be congratulated for refusing to take part in the offensive exercise. In the case of one so mature for her age, I think that we can take it that it wasn’t that she did not “believe” in homosexuality, but that she was opposed to it. And, the Qld premier did the right thing by requiring such nonsense to be withdrawn.

Describing people disgusted by sexual perversion as “homophobes” seeks to make normal people wrong, and perverts right. We’ve had all sorts of discussion on OLO about homosexuality – generally a waste of time – but the fact remains that males and females are different for one reason – procreation of the species (and we’ve been through the crap about heterosexuals not having children, so give it a rest).

Same sex organs are simply not “designed” to work together. There is no getting around that, and that fact should end all argument. Of course, it doesn’t, and the inevitable acceptance of the disgusting habit of homosexuality, same-sex partners “rights” and other warped legislation, will add to the downfall of decency and civilization.

I’m the first to admit that the battle is lost to the perverts. Even as a non-religious person, I see the approach of a real Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is no excuse for filth to be preached to schoolchildren, or anyone else who simply doesn’t want to know.

I love the bit where these two characters talk about a “political agenda masquerading as curriculum”. They don’t want their political agenda pushed in schools – much! And, of course students are already aware of the issue. They don’t need bent teachers shoving it down their throats

I was surprised that this became an issue, and I wonder exactly how much it has been beaten up on its journey through the media.

If my thirteen year-old had been set this question, he would have found it exceptionally difficult to complete, let alone provide an answer that would have said anything meaningful about "acceptance of diversity and understanding of the consequences of exclusion, be it through sexual identity, race, culture or disability"

For reasons that I sometimes find difficult to understand myself, he is totally unaware that homosexuals are in any way disadvantaged in our society, let alone "excluded". The fact that someone is or is not homosexual appeares to be freely discussed at his school without any overtones or undertones. He is fully aware that some of his teachers are homosexual, but neither he nor his mates see this as anything more significant than the type of car they drive or the colour of their shirt.

Having said that, it is also noticeable that they continue, as did the school playground of my own distant recollection, to bandy around the terms described in the article - "'poofter', 'dyke' or 'faggot' used as insults" - without noticeable harm. I wonder if it might be that they carry no more emotional baggage for them than it did for us, where they were equivalent to 'spaz', 'moron' or 'loony'.

There is an industry somewhere that keeps a lot of people in lucrative employment, manufacturing "issues" around words such as "minority", "exclusion", "discrimination", "diversity", "tolerance" and the like. The only thing they actually achieve - except for a comfortable lifestyle for their proponents - is a continuation of the myth that kids actually concern themselves with stuff like this.

Left to themselves, kids seem to me to be a remarkably tolerant bunch. It is the introduction of intrusive do-gooders that sensitizes them to the differences. Otherwise, they simply wouldn't notice.

I have to say I’m inclined to agree with you, Leigh: these arguments do tend to go round in unhelpful circles. I’m always fascinated by who’s going to be the first to make a biblical reference and who’ll be the first to describe their distaste of homosexuality as “not wanting it shoved down their throat”. Congratulations x 2.

Now: who’s going to be the first to mention paedophilia, and who’s going to post the first link to the NARTH website? Or for that matter, mention Hitler, the Nazis or Fred Phelps?

I disagree with you, though Pericles: I think it’s a really interesting, though possibly challenging, thought exercise for year nine kids, although I reckon the teachers were pretty naive not to think it might furrow a few Neanderthal brows in these days of the so-called culture wars.

It might not take long for someone to quote a biblical reference or to talk about the sinfulness of homosexuality but their seems to be far more who are willing to promote this unhealthy lifestyle. I think this young girl has a great deal of courage in standing against this perversion that is constantly pushed on the majority from a very small minority. No wonder the State system is losing religous and non religous people at the rate of knots.