'Fuck off, Mark Latham,' and the Parental Rights Bill: explained

Fabian Robertson explains Latham’s dangerous anti-trans bill.

Greens MP Jenny Leong made eloquent reference to the Parental Rights Bill at the Mardi Gras Rally of March this year: “Fuck off, Mark Latham, fuck off. We have had enough of your attacking and bullying and bullshit.”

Leong’s sentiment encapsulates growing concerns regarding One Nation MP Mark Latham’s NSW Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020.

In the Facebook event for their upcoming protest, Community Action for Rainbow Rights calls the bill “a disgusting transphobic attack, seeking to cohere and embolden a bigoted, right wing audience”.

USyd’s SRC passed a motion to vehemently condemn the bill, with Welfare Officer Owen Marsden-Readford declaring it a “heinous attack on trans rights, workers’ rights, and the most vulnerable children of our society”.

But what exactly does the bill propose? And how could it affect our communities?

The bill

1) The bill proposes prohibiting teachers, counsellors, and volunteers from teaching ‘gender fluidity’ at both government and non-government schools. ‘Gender fluidity’ is defined in the bill as the belief that gender is “socially constructed” and that an individual’s “biological sex is different from their human gender”. The bill’s definition also labels “sexual differentiation” as a “disorder”, despite the World Health Organisation recognising that gender incongruence is not a mental health condition in 2019. If passed, schools would no longer be able to respect the identity of trans people or validate the notion that one’s gender is not determined by their biological sex.

Scenario: a student comes out as transgender to a teacher or school counsellor. The teacher or counsellor can’t affirm or acknowledge their transgender status as they are legally unable to teach ‘gender fluidity’.

2) The bill proposes that the teaching of issues pertaining to ‘parental primacy’ is to be solely non-ideological at government schools. ‘Parental primacy’ is defined as “moral and ethical standards, political and social values, and matters of personal wellbeing and identity including gender and sexuality”. No child at a government school can be instructed on a matter of ‘parental primacy’ if their parents object to that instruction.

Scenario: a student at a government school is being homophobic. As sexuality is a matter of ‘parental primacy’ under the bill, a teacher would be unable to instruct them to do otherwise if the parents of the student objected to that instruction.

3) If passed, school staff in contravention of these amendments can have their teaching accreditation revoked and lose their ability to work in the profession.

The impact on transgender school kids

USyd student and transgender man James* grappled with his gender identity during high school. According to James, having a school community supportive of ‘gender fluidity’ and his trans identity was crucial to his mental health.  

“I was thirteen when I learned what it meant to be transgender. It would take me another four years to settle into my identity as a transgender man, but it was clear that I was not cisgender. I knew that my parents would not support me if I came out, so I stayed closeted. I told only my school counsellor and a close friend what I was experiencing. My secret weighed me down, and I fell into the depths of depression. I was fourteen when I attempted suicide for the first time.

A year later, I came out to the rest of the school. I was right in my belief that my parents would not affirm my gender, but I never could have imagined the amount of support I received from my teachers. Although I continued to struggle with mental health, I knew that while I was at school, my gender and my name would be respected.

Without that support, I’m not confident that I’d be alive today to write this. If I’d been turned away by my counsellor, if my teachers had been required to continue calling me by my birth name, my depression would have gotten worse, not better. 

If Latham’s bill passes, I earnestly believe that he will have the blood of transgender children on his hands.”

Will it pass?

The bill was introduced to the NSW Legislative Council on 5 August 2020 and is currently under review by a parliamentary inquiry committee chaired by Latham. The bill must proceed at a final Legislative Council reading this year before then being passed by the Legislative Assembly. The current makeup of the Legislative Council means that the bill will need the backing of One Nation, the Liberals, the Nationals and Shooters to achieve a majority. If the bill passes the Legislative Council, it is likely to be passed at the Legislative Assembly as the Liberals and Nationals have a majority.

If finally passed by NSW parliament, it may come into conflict with the federal Sex Discrimination Act. Under the act, it is illegal to discriminate against a student on the basis of their gender identity. The constitution stipulates that where there is an inconsistency between state and federal law, federal law will prevail. Thus, much of Latham’s bill could theoretically become invalid.

Whether or not the proposals will have any tangible impact on NSW law, their public consideration has skewed the Overton window to a more regressive and transphobic arena of discourse. Centring public debate on such backward laws not only harms trans communities by amplifying transphobic voices, but also stalls advancement towards progressive policies addressing the LGBTIQA+ community.

Saturday, April 17 Protest

One of the most powerful ways citizens can fight policy and stand in support with marginalised groups is through protest. Community Action for Rainbow Rights have organised a rally against the bill and any future Religious Freedoms Bills this Saturday at 1pm in Taylor Square. The event calls for members of the public to “say no the bills and no to transphobia!”

*name has been changed