Furious teacher quits after Christian school compares homosexuality to incest and paedophilia
Australian teacher resigns after being asked to sign anti-LGBT+ contract asking students to follow gender roles of their ‘biological sex’ (Helen Clapham Burns/The Project)
A teacher has resigned from Citipointe Christian College after the school asked staff and parents to sign a cruel anti-LGBT+ enrolment contract.
Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane, Australia has been widely criticised for the contract that was sent to parents, which states that homosexuality and bisexuality are “sinful”, comparing being LGBT+ to incest, bestiality and paedophilia.
Teacher Helen Clapham Burns announced on news show The Project that she has resigned from her role and withdrawn her son from the school.
“We have been in trauma and stress this weekend as I am having to blow my son’s world apart, because he’s not going to get to do year 11 and 12 with his mates, I have to find him a new school,” she told the show.
“Not only could I not sign that as a parent, I couldn’t agree to be a teacher in a school that had that vocabulary and language around some of the most vulnerable kids that we interact with.”
Helen Clapham Burns is a teacher at Citipointe Christian College, where one of her children attends. The school has not backed down on its policy against LGBTQI+ students. Today, Helen handed in her resignation. She joins us to tell us all about why she has made the decision. pic.twitter.com/JJqd4rc7sn
— The Project (@theprojecttv) January 31, 2022
The contract continues that distinctions “will be applied on the basis of the individual’s biological sex” in terms of uniforms, use of facilities and participation in sports.
It states that failure to agree to the terms will “afford Citipointe Christian College the right to exclude a student from the college who no longer adheres to the college’s doctrinal precepts including those as to biological sex”.
A petition started by a former student that demands the school recall the enrolment contract has been signed by more than 70,000 people.
The petition explains: “Within this document, they compare homosexuality to incest and paedophilia, stating, ‘We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including but not limiting to adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual acts, bestiality, incest, paedophilia and pornography) is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society.’
“They also state that they will refuse to acknowledge a student’s gender identity and will only acknowledge gender assignment given at birth.
“Citipointe Christian College is using their religious beliefs to openly discriminate against queer and trans students, as well as threatening to take away their education.”
In a statement, principal pastor Brian Mulheran said the school has “always held these Christian beliefs and we have tried to be fair and transparent to everyone in our community by making them clear in the enrolment contract”.
In November 2021, a teacher made headlines for resigning after being forced to remove Pride flags from his classroom.
Bisexual teacher Russell Ball was emailed by his school in Michigan instructing staff to remove any Pride flags from their classrooms; it said to take down Pride flags at the beginning of the day, before students arrived, and not to reinstall them until further notice.
Shortly after receiving the email, Ball resigned from his position as physical education teacher at Three Rivers Middle School.
He took to TikTok to explain that he refused to comply with the request.
“The Pride flag stands for love, inclusion and equality… By removing it, I feel like I am being told that I am invalidated, that I don’t belong, and that’s not a message I want to send to myself or any of my students,” he said.
