The parents of a 7-year-old girl, who was severely reprimanded by school administrators for discussing family life in the classroom, have chosen to remove her from the school rather than allow the threat of expulsion to interrupt her day-to-day life.
The two fathers, whose little girl attended a private Christian school in Australia, have spoken of their upset at the fact their personal life has impacted negatively on their daughter's education.
Opening up about the incident which led to the search for a new school, dad Brendan said: "I was told that they don’t promote ‘gay’ at the school and my daughter was unable to talk about my life between my partner and me."
Reflecting on the implications this could have on his child's understanding of family life, Brendan recalls advising her of the rules and suddenly realised the severity of the school's guidelines.
"She could mention my name, but she couldn’t talk about us being gay or relating to us as a couple, so we were forced to say that she wasn’t allowed to talk about Daddy or my partner at all," he revealed while speaking to the Mandurah Mail.
Brendan, who initially enrolled his daughter in the Foundation Christian College with his ex-wife, has since been informed that had the school been aware of his sexual orientation, his daughter would not have secured a place at the school.
Commenting on principal Andrew Newhouse's remarks on the matter, Brendan revealed: "He said to me that ‘If we knew you were gay at the interview you would never have got in this school."
Speaking out about the matter, Mr Newhouse confirmed Brendan's claims and defended the school's position, saying: "I mentioned to the parent that if his daughter was to continue this topic of discussion with her peers, then it would be in both his and his daughter’s interests to move to a school that would support his world view."
Brendan admits he feels responsible for the upheaval in his daughter's life and laments the fact that his sexual orientation has any impact on the life she leads or the education with which she is provided.
"Why does my daughter have to go through this and lose her best friends due to the person I am? I carry a lot of guilt and I hate that my daughter has to deal with her dad not being accepted."
Refusing to back down, Mr. Newhouse remained firm in his stance, saying: "The school board are firm in their view that families have a mother and father who raise children jointly. The board also has a strong view that families with same-sex parents do not support a Christian world view."
Brendan and his partner have since enrolled the little girl in a public school.
