Please Enjoy This Labor MP Dunking On A Principal Who Doesn’t Want To Hire Gay Teachers
"A gay teacher doesn't teach gay maths, they just teach maths."
Labor frontbencher Terri Butler used her appearance on Monday night’s episode of Q&A to dunk on a Melbourne vice-principal concerned that his school will lose the power to discriminate against gay teachers.
Red Rock Christian College deputy principal Kevin Muslayah told the panel he was growing “increasingly concerned that schools like mine will one day lose [their] ability to preference staff that align with and are committed to promoting the values and faith-based positions within our school community”.
Of course, when host Tony Jones asked flat-out whether Mr Muslayah wanted the right to sack a teacher he discovered was gay, the educator avoided the question.
Um look, ah, it’s a case by case,” he stammered. “It’s really hard to be able to articulate that. Despite public criticism around that … we are a Christian school, there is a particular alignment of values, and so when that becomes a question, we have to ask how is that having an impact on that value base.”
It was at this point that Butler chimed in.
“Aren’t your values love thy neighbour?” she asked Muslayah. “And if so, why would you discriminate on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity?”
“A gay teacher doesn’t teach gay maths, they just teach maths,” she added.
.@terrimbutler on whether religious schools should be required to enrol LGBTI kids #QandA pic.twitter.com/B0cJg2WPWN
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) October 15, 2018
On Friday Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that his government will amend the Sex Discrimination Act to ensure that religious schools are unable to expel students on the basis of their sexuality. But he stopped short of promising the same protections to staff, despite pressure from the Labor party.
“It’s wonderful that there is now bipartisanship in relation to removing any discrimination in relation to students, because I think no one in this room would say that a kid who is gay should be able to be excluded from school on that basis,” Butler told the Q&A audience. “And I think there is also virtually no one in this room who would say that an adult who is gay should be able to be excluded from being a teacher on that basis.”
“I certainly hope the government will agree.”