Dear Josephus,

I am not ignorant of the fact that parents of children in religious schools are also taxpayers. That entitles them to use public facilities. I don’t think it entitles them to state support for their schools. Parents are taxpayers. So are bachelors and spinsters. The schools are a public good whether one has children or not.

Gender dysphoria is a scientific fact. If religious mumbojumbo wants to deny scientific fact taxpayers should not pay for it. Literal believers in the Bible will deny many scientific facts. Religion often serves the function of raising children in ignorance and superstition. Children are confused and suffer anxiety if superstitious parents deny science.

I was a guide at Roma Street Parkland. When I started to talk about the development of species a man covered the ears of a little boy and said, “What about Adam and Eve?” Our local Christian Reformed Church supports the Genesis Project which contends that the earth was created in six literal days. They also support chaplains in the schools. I am glad that I have no children of school age going to Australian public schools.

Part of the function of the public schools is to teach science. Children should not be prevented from learning about science because superstitious parents want to keep them ignorant

Dear Josephus,

Sexuality is complex. There are many forms of sexual dysphoria. One of the forms of this condition is testicular feminization syndrome.

You can look it up at “Testicular feminization: complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. Discussions based on a case report - PubMed (nih.gov)”

“Introduction and objectives: Testicular feminization is the syndrome when a male, genetically XY, because of various abnormalities of the X chromosome, is resistant to the actions of the androgen hormones, which in turn stops the forming of the male genitalia and gives a female phenotype. The androgen insensitivity syndrome occurs in one out of 20,000 births and can be incomplete (various sexual ambiguities) or complete (the person appears to be a woman). The aim of this paper is to present the diagnosis and treatment of a case of testicular feminization.”

The individual with that condition will be born looking like a normal girl baby. She will grow up feeling like a girl but will not have a deep enough vagina, ovaries or a uterus but will appear externally like a female human. She will have testicles within her body but no penis or other male organs to go with it. She will not have periods and may conceal that fact from her family and friends. It is of no help to her to deny the condition. She will suffer great anxiety which will not be relieved by telling her that her condition does not exist.
There are many other forms of gender dysphoria. None of them should be treated with denial of their existence.

David, one child in 20,000, is not what is taught to a class of children at a public school. All children in the class are exposed to the possibility they are not the gender of birth. Thus, the removal of the identity male / female at birth of all babies born. The condition should be identified medically in the child by a doctor not a schoolteacher. It is not a condition the whole class of primary school children need to be exposed to. Children as young as six are being taught how to have sexual pleasure from anal sex and exposure of genitals in class.

FROM VICTORIA SCHOOL REPORT defending sex ed in school.

Sex education classes at school need to better represent the relationships and sex lives of average young people, according to Melbourne teenager Tamsin Griffiths.

"We need more information than just how to put condoms on bananas," she said.

"It's not all about babies and marriage anymore. [The curriculum] excludes topics like pleasure.

"One-night stands and casual sex are very common these days, but the [curriculum] reduced sex to its practical, reproductive function."

Tamsin — from Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula — carried out a survey of 500 students at different schools for a Grade 12 project last year and found many reported sex ed classes that were antiquated and out of date.

"[The survey indicated the curriculum] didn't represent the LGBTQI+ community appropriately," she said.

"When I look around my friendship group and within society, so many young people's experiences are just not represented in the curriculum.

"Sex is a natural part of life, so why is it not taught adequately in schools?"

Dear Josephus,

There are quite possibly flaws in the way sex education is taught in the schools. I doubt it is as crazy as the Christian belief that a human virgin gave birth to a god-man. I certainly don't think it's a good thing to expose a child to that nonsense.

I found:

Main article: Teenage pregnancy in Australia. In 2015, the birth rate among teenage women in Australia was 11.9 births per 1,000 women.[12] The rate has fallen from 55.5 births per 1,000 women in 1971, probably due to ease of access to effective birth control, rather than any decrease in sexual activity.

The above indicates that the exercise of putting condoms on bananas makes better sense than teaching children about the absolute rubbish about a virgin giving birth to a god-man.

Jose'

At my Catholic school many boys received practical sex education from Brother Pedophile . Did he teach at your school?
BTW When asked, you have never disclosed how many rock spiders have been uncovered in your church, probably thousands.

Any pro-republicans care to say who they think should be the Commander-in-Chief of the ADF in an Australian republic?