Dear friends,
Imagine you're 16 and you're being bullied by your classmates, just for being gay. You try to reach out to someone at school for help – but the government has decided that people like you don’t deserve support. Sound outrageous? Well, it’s happening in Australia right now.
The Safe Schools Coalition was created to stop bullying of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans (LGBT) youth in Australia. But after months of lobbying from homophobic legislators, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has caved to pressure: yesterday, he announced the program will be reviewed. If anti-gay politicians get their way, it could be cut altogether.
But there’s still a chance to save it. The review’s just been announced, and people are outraged. If we join them and create a huge, global outcry in the next few days, we could pressure the government to keep the program and make sure LGBT kids are safe.
Bullying is a big problem in Australia. In a recent Australian study, 61 percent of young lesbian, gay, and bi people reported experiencing verbal abuse and 18 percent reported physical abuse. A whopping 90 percent of Australian trans people have experienced some kind of discrimination.
Another study found that young lesbian, gay and bi Australians were six times more likely to take their own lives than non-LGB Australians.
But that hasn’t stopped anti-gay politicians from attacking vulnerable young people. Cory Bernardi, an openly homophobic politician who compared marriage equality to bestiality, said that the Safe Schools program "indoctrinates" kids. He’s been pressuring Turnbull for months and now it’s paid off.
But people in Australia are fighting back. Pro-equality politicians have voiced their support for the program in the media. The outcry is building: if we turn it into an avalanche, we could push Turnbull to keep the Safe Schools Coalition in place.
This is an issue we’ve been working on for a long time. A few years ago, when the Australian government released its Federal Budget, it included $245 million to send chaplains from anti-gay religious groups to schools around Australia. Almost 200,000 of us spoke out, joining a public outcry across the country. And just a few months later, the country’s High Court said the federal government could no longer fund chaplains in schools.
But now, vulnerable young people are under threat in Australia again. We need to speak up big, and we need to do it now.
Thank you for going All Out,
Matt, Enrique, Mathias, Oscar, Sarah and the rest of the All Out team.
P.S. Australia's Prime Minister is listening to anti-gay politicians who are trying to get rid of the only program protecting vulnerable LGBT young people in schools. We need a massive global outcry to make him stand up to homophobic politicians and keep ALL Australian young people safe. Can you sign now? go.allout.org/en/a/australian-schools/
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