‘It’s appalling’: For trans student Miles, gender identity should have nothing to do with school

Transgender student Miles Wade struggles to comprehend how a faith-based school could be allowed to discriminate against a student because of their gender identity.

He says his own school – Koo Wee Rup Secondary College, a government school in South Gippsland – was “absolutely amazing” when he transitioned to a boy in year 10.

“How could the whole reason a kid is kept out of a school be based not on their personality but one aspect of their life that has nothing to do with school?” says Miles, who is 16 and now in year 11.

“It’s just appalling.”

Transgender student Miles Wade with a teddy bear he made for the Magical Getaway Foundation, which sends disadvantaged children on family holidays.

Under amendments proposed in the religious discrimination bills package to be introduced to Federal Parliament this week, faith-based schools would be banned from expelling gay students. However, they would retain the right to discriminate against students because of their gender identity, including transgender and gender-diverse children.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told the ABC that laws allowing schools to exclude transgender students would be referred to the Australian Law Reform Commission for review.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said a move to immediately strip church schools of the ability to discriminate against transgender students would raise complications over bathrooms and uniform requirements, and risk eroding the ethos of single-sex religious schools.

The core idea of the Religious Discrimination Bill is to give legal protection against discrimination for people of faith, including in employment and education. However, it is controversial because it also allows people of faith to discriminate against others.

Liam Elphick, a discrimination law expert at Monash University, said the bill explicitly overrides new Victorian laws prohibiting faith-based schools from sacking or refusing to hire LGBTQ teachers and might also affect state laws protecting students from discrimination.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the Victorian government would use “any and all legal avenues” to defend its laws.

Last week, Brisbane school Citipointe Christian College sparked national outrage when it said it would only enrol students on the basis of the gender that corresponded with their biological sex. The school has now withdrawn the enrolment contract and the principal has stepped down.

Australian Association of Christian Schools chair John Metcalfe said he was unaware of any Christian school that had expelled a student for being homosexual or transgender.

Mr Metcalfe, who is also the principal of Plenty Valley Christian College in Doreen, said Christian schools were more concerned about the ability to employ staff with similar values than the sexual orientation or gender identity of students.

Gay and trans students are protected from discrimination at Victorian state schools.

Some Victorian faith-based schools have been very supportive of transgender students.

King David School, a co-ed Jewish school in Armadale, said it welcomed transgender and gender non-conforming students. The school has gender-neutral bathrooms, there are a variety of uniform options and students are generally not referred to as “boys” and “girls”.

There is also staff and student training in supporting transgender gender and gender non-conforming students.

“Our core Jewish principles of egalitarianism, inclusivity and tikun olam (social justice) mean that we strive to create an environment that is inclusive and safe for all our students and staff,” principal Marc Light said.

Last year, a student at Xavier College, one of Melbourne’s oldest Catholic boys’ colleges, identified as a girl in year 12.

“We affirm her in her decision,” principal William Doherty and rector Father Chris Middleton wrote in a newsletter to parents at the time. “We will continue to welcome, care for and educate our female student in all ways.”

The newsletter said the school was aware that this topic could elicit a range of opinions and thought but it rejected prejudice and discrimination in all its forms. “Jesus, of course, was the great includer, often challenging the norms of his time centred on the universal tenets of love and inclusion.”

Islamic Council of Victoria president Adel Salman said he would be surprised if Islamic schools did not already enrol gay and transgender students.

“No Islamic school that I know has actually caused such harm to children because of their sexuality or because of their gender orientation, so even if this becomes law, I think Islamic schools – because of their duty of care to children – will handle this sensitively and certainly will not cause harm or trauma to children.”

Miles said Koo Wee Rup Secondary College immediately changed his name and pronouns when he came out as transgender in September last year and contacted the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority to make sure his details were correct in exams.

“They have been absolutely amazing from the beginning. It’s been a blessing,” he said.

“The vice-principal got me in for a meeting just to discuss anything that would help me. I can use whatever toilets, but she gave me a pass for the unisex, disabled toilet just to be more comforting and private.”

Miles said retaining the right to expel transgender students from faith-based schools made the broader community believe it was OK to discriminate against people on the basis of faith.

“One of my biggest supporters is my music teacher. He’s Christian, he has faith, but he is the most accepting person I know,” he says.

“And that just shows you that when somebody has so much faith in religion, such as a man like him, you can still live happily and support anyone you like no matter what.

Miles said he was recently in the male toilet of a public restroom adjusting his binder, a clothing item that some transgender people use to flatten their chest.

“Obviously someone saw … and chased me down the street and beat me up. He attacked me – a grown man beating up a 16-year-old in broad daylight.”

Jeremy Wiggins, executive officer of Transcend Australia, an organisation that supports trans children and their families and carers, said public debates about transgender students fostered hateful attitudes in the broader community.

“These are the side effects and consequences of these sorts of debates and that’s why the government needs to take responsibility to protect trans kids,” he said.

Mr Wiggins said Transcend Australia was contacted every day by parents and carers who were worried about their transgender children facing bullying, teasing and physical assault at school just for being themselves.

“These sorts of bills that become enshrined in law just give rise to those negative attitudes that seek to discriminate against a small minority group who face one of the highest suicide rates in Australia.”

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