Ok, so if we do get a 'yes vote' could this then lead to our schools being forced to refrain from using the words 'Mum and Dad' to be replaced by say 'your parents' or 'your carers'?

Let's face it, Dick and Dora are gone because not all kids have a mum and dad at home.

As I say, the gay marriage debate is not the real issue here, it's about a tiny minority fighting to change the majority because most normal folk accept the queer lifestyles these people lead, but recognition as being in an equal relationship is where the line is being crossed.

Dear rehctub,

Why do you assume that schools will be "forced" to do
anything of the kind?

Gay parents do exist and have existed for quite some
time and as far as I'm aware schools have not "forced"
anyone to refrain from any sort of language thus far
and I don't see that happening in the future either.
If you assume that there is only
one "right" family form, then naturally any change
will be interpreted as heralding the doom of the
whole institution. It is important to recognise, therefore,
that today we do have an immense range of family and
kinship patterns and that the family, like any other
social institution has changed through time and will
continue to do so - whether you recognise its legitimacy
or not.

Cannot see how that would follow - when I was teaching there were kids in my classes that came from single sex households. Overheard one conversation:
"what is it like having two mums?"
"well it is rather good, for if one sick there is always an other one to cook"
The only people with hang-ups tend to be the adults - the kids are used to coping with a variety of different family groupings; some ;live with their biological parents, some do not. Some, thanks to multiple divorces have ended up living with adults who have no biological relationship with them.
As for 'special persons day' that is one of these clumsy ideas that some bureaucrat might come up with but will be rejected by the kids. Already there are kids who are accustomed to talking about Judy and Bert rather than Mum and Dad. All that matters is that the kids live in a home where they are valued.
As far marriage equality goes that too is something that agitates adults - the kids really dont care.

The Depts of Education, universities and others who depend on the taxpayer's dollar are beavering away, working on inclusive language guides that become policy. It has been going on for years and is obvious in government publications. More victim groups are being added.

Students of the past thirty years will be familiar with strategies and the growing intensity. Some of it is OK, but that depends on the school principal and university department.

The lesson is that parents should do their very best to be engaged somehow with children's education and be listening, not reacting (drives their students away), when they want to talk about school.

«could this then lead to our schools being forced to refrain from»

Well this is a contradiction in terms: if the schools in question were indeed "our", then we would have been able to have there whatever policies we liked!

So let's not focus on petty issues - the root problem, Rehctub, is that your children are being forced to attend schools (or otherwise effectively pay a large fine) that are NOT yours, wherein they can be indoctrinated by others against your will.

Once compulsory "education" is repealed, I see no problem if the state and its supporters apply whatever policies they like in THEIR schools.

I think you're right BAYGON, kid's couldn't careless whether they have a single sex couple at home, as long as they are well cared for and protected from the wiles of the world. As you're a former teacher I was wondering therefore whether or not we're doing a disservice to our kids by failing to acquaint them with the benefits of a normal heterosexual relationship? And yet we continue to familiarise them with the apparent normality of a same sex relationship. Before they've even been given a chance to see, and question for themselves, the opposing view? Just a question is all