17c起草社区

THE聽director of acclaimed documentary Gayby Baby, Maya Newell, has told the 17c起草社区 she is聽disappointed聽by NSW聽Education Minister Adrian Piccoli’s聽decision聽to聽ban schools from showing the film during class times and that children聽of same-sex parents have a right to have their voices heard.

Meanwhile, the father of one of the children featured聽said he stands behind his family’s participation in the聽film which is due to be shown in up to 30 schools as part of Friday’s Wear It Purple Day, which聽celebrates young LGBTI people and encourages inclusiveness in the face of alarming rates of self-harm and suicide.

Gayby Baby, which is聽nominated in the best documentary category at next year鈥檚 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards, follows four Australian children raised by same-sex couples.

The film opens nationwide on limited release on Thursday, September 3.

While touching on marriage equality and the potential for school yard bullying because of their parent鈥檚 sexuality, the documentary is primarily focused on the day-to-day lives of the participants including whether 12-year-old Ebony will pass an audition to get into her favoured high school and 11-year-old Graham鈥檚 struggle to read and write.

Last night, a special screening at NSW Parliament House was met with rapturous applause by MPs from across NSW and the political spectrum.

However, this morning, the said 鈥減arents are angry鈥� after Burwood Girls High School 鈥� in inner-west Sydney 鈥撀燿ecided to show all students the documentary this Friday and encouraged those attending to wear purple.

Speaking on Sydney radio station 2GB this morning, Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman said the film was a tool in the marriage equality campaign.

鈥淒irecting the whole school body to watch a pro-homosexual film, a pro-homosexual marriage documentary made by a former student, herself a product of a homosexual partnership, is an absolute travesty,” he said.

The state education minister聽subsequently told 2GB that while聽NSW was a diverse state, no student should be compelled to see the聽film and the documentary could not be shown during class time as it was not part of the curriculum.

“Schools are not places for political issues to be aired,” Piccoli said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not in the business of banning movies but we鈥檝e made a direction to the department that this film is not be screened during school hours.鈥�

Newell, who was raised by same-sex parents and attended Burwood Girls High,聽told the 17c起草社区聽that depictions of families like her own didn’t exist when she was growing up.

“I think Australians are ready to talk about what modern families look like,” she said.

She said Gayby Baby was “completely appropriate”, had been rated PG and identified as a family film.

“It’s very disappointing what聽the education minister said because it says the stories of these families are not worth hearing,” Newell said.

She dismissed suggestions the film was part of the marriage equality campaign, pointing out production began five years ago when the current political debate could not have been predicted.

“It’s actually a film about growing up… and these kids have the right to have their voices heard,” Newell said.

Matt Young 鈥� who is the adopted father of Graham in the film 鈥� told the 17c起草社区 he fully supported Gayby Baby.

鈥淚 stand behind the film makers and am proud of our child鈥檚 involvement in the film,” he said.

鈥淗is story is beautifully told.鈥�

Paul Bastian, who sends his daughter to Burwood High, told he backed聽the school鈥檚 decision to show the film.

鈥淭he school, in our view, is just a really good school,” he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really diverse; they do such an excellent job of teaching tolerance of each other.鈥�

Wear It Purple operations officer Naomi Graham said schools across Australia were scheduled to show Gayby Baby this Friday:聽鈥淭his year鈥檚 theme is about addressing presumptions and Gayby Baby does a really good job of shedding light on the perspective of a different group of young people鈥�

On Friday everyone, including high school students, is being encouraged to wear purple to show their support for young LGBTI people.

A recent study by the Australian-based Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre showed 16 per cent of young people who identified as LGBTI have attempted suicide while 33 per cent have harmed themselves as a result of homophobic or transphobic harassment.

鈥淲ear It Purple goes to the idea of young people being proud of who they are as a protective ensure stopping them getting to the point where they feel they can鈥檛 handle certain things,鈥� Graham said.

On聽the day, the City of Sydney, NSW Police Force, LGBTI youth group Twenty10, LGBTI health body ACON and others will host a special Wear It Purple day event in Hyde Park. Similar events are also being planned by other local councils and organisations nationwide.