Media Release – Page 4 – Aleph Melbourne

Media Release: Over 100 Schools have joined Safe Schools Coalition Victoria!

Media Release
For immediate distribution – please on forward
Monday 16^th April 2013

Over 100 Schools have joined Safe Schools Coalition Victoria!

Safe Schools Coalition Victoria have welcomed their 100 and 101^st new member schools this month. Glen Eira College and Elwood College joined on the same day to push the membership into 3 figures! The news was greeted with cheers from over 400 young people when it was announced at the Same Sex Formal on Saturday night (April 6^th). The highly popular event, organised by Minus18 in partnership with Safe Schools Coalition Victoria aimed to create a safe, supportive and celebratory space for same sex attracted young people and their friends, whilst also raising awareness of inclusion at school formals more generally.

Since launching in October 2010, support for the coalition has continued to increase throughout the state. The program has delivered professional learning sessions with over 2,500 school staff across Victoria, and reached thousands of students through school based projects and partnerships. It has also distributed thousands of information booklets, posters, and stickers to school staff and students.

Safe Schools Coalition Victoria is funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Department of Health. Based at Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria at La Trobe University, research is used to make sure that training and resources are high quality and relevant to the broader education framework.

The coalition aims to create school environments ‘where every family can belong, where every teacher can teach and every student can learn’. Government schools in Victoria have a positive duty to support sexual diversity, and ensure that there is no homophobic or transphobic bullying or discrimination.

Roz Ward, co-founder and co-ordinator of the coalition said;

“It is very exciting to welcome our 100^th school to the coalition. When we launched back in 2010 nobody quite knew just how popular the coalition would become.

We have received so much positive feedback; we just know this is making a difference to students all across Victoria, and in all different kinds of schools.

The cheers from students at the same sex formal to this news, just shows how important this initiative has been in giving young people the confidence to just be themselves. We want everyone at school to feel like they belong, and whatever their gender or sexuality, they are valued as part of the community”

— Ends —

Roz Ward, Coordinator of Safe Schools Coalition Victoria is available for interview.

T: 03 9285 5131 | M: 0450 319952 | E: r.ward@latrobe.edu.au

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE: www.sscv.org.au

Roz Ward
Youth Programs, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society
La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne 3000
T:03 9285 5131 F:03 9285 5220
E: r.ward@latrobe.edu.au

Media Release: JCCV tackles homophobia but must prove it is serious

Aleph Melbourne Media Release
March 28 2013
“JCCV tackles homophobia, but must prove it is serious”

Aleph Melbourne congratulates the Jewish Community Council of Victoria for aligning themselves with the No To Homophobia¹ campaign, as announced² in this week’s Australian Jewish News.

The No To Homophobia campaign aims to challenge all forms of harassment and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people. With the JCCV signing up for these values it paves the way for greater acceptance and inclusion of GLBTIQ people in the Jewish community and will work to reduce the extreme marginalisation and intolerance that GLBTIQ people face at the Orthodox end of the religious spectrum.

As the only organisation representing the combined interests of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in Melbourne’s Jewish community, Aleph Melbourne all too frequently sees the effects of intolerance of sexual orientation and gender identity, especially when it emanates from within the Jewish community.

A recent example of homophobia in the Victorian Jewish community is when Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen³ called for the defunding of the Safe Schools Coalition Victoria program and published his beliefs that homosexual people should undergo sexual reorientation therapy to make them heterosexual.

Another example of homophobia in the Victorian Jewish community is the Rabbinical Council of Victoria writing a submission⁴ to the Australian Senate opposing changes to the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to obtain civil marriages.

Aleph Melbourne co-convenor Michael Barnett asks of JCCV President Nina Bassat “Signing up to the No To Homophobia campaign is definitely a step in the right direction, but how is the JCCV going to counter homophobic attitudes from the intolerant sections of the Jewish community, especially when it comes to equal recognition of our relationships under Civil law and other forms of legalised intolerance such as that where Jewish organisations are allowed to discriminate against LGBTI people, especially when they are Jewish. It’s simply not enough for the JCCV just to ask their membership to also sign up. That is not affirmative action.”

Barnett states “The JCCV must show that joining No To Homophobia is a sincere attitude change and not just window-dressing. The lives of vulnerable same-sex attracted and gender diverse youth are at stake here and there is no room for hollow platitudes.”

Aleph Melbourne looks forward to the seeing the JCCV bring along its constituents in this new chapter and the accompanying benefits to the community that this entails, in particular building stronger and more inclusive families and reducing the rate of youth suicide, self-harm and mental health issues.

Aleph Melbourne also looks forward to the JCCV taking proactive initiatives to counter homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in all Jewish schools by recommending they all join the Safe Schools Coalition Victoria⁵. There is also ample scope for the JCCV to work with Jewish sporting organisations to reduce homophobic intolerance and promote positive role models in those spaces.

Contact Michael Barnett on 0417-595-541 for further comment.

ENDS

Bialik College joins Safe Schools Coalition Victoria

MEDIA RELEASE
March 1 2013

ALEPH MELBOURNE CONGRATULATES BIALIK COLLEGE
ON JOINING SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION VICTORIA

Aleph Melbourne congratulates Bialik College on joining Safe Schools Coalition Victoria today. Bialik College is now the third Jewish day school in Victoria to join SSCV, following in the footsteps of long-standing member King David School and the more recent addition of Sholem Aleichem College.

Aleph Melbourne co-convenor Michael Barnett said “Bialik College has shown true leadership in joining Safe Schools Coalition Victoria today. It is a sign of commitment and maturity by the school that it places the welfare of its students foremost. As a former student of Bialik College who struggled deeply with my sexuality during my high school years, I am confident my academic and social experience would have benefited by this type of initiative.”

Aleph Melbourne calls on all remaining Jewish day and after-hours schools to follow the leadership set by King David School, Bialik College and Sholem Aleichem College and similarly join SSCV. The health and well-being of the community’s children must not be sacrificed, especially during some of the most critical years of their lives.

Suicide and self-harm have been demonstrated to be a serious problem amongst same-sex attracted youth when they are not accepted and affirmed unconditionally, with elevated level of risk to the norm. The sooner all schools mitigate this risk by adopting “best practices” in regards to acceptance of diversity in sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status the better off the community will be.

CONTACTS:
Aleph Melbourne: Michael Barnett / 0417-595-541 / michael@aleph.org.au
Safe Schools Coalition Victoria: Roz Ward / 03-9285-5131 / r.ward@latrobe.edu.au

Media Release: Government gives $20K grant to promote inclusive communities to homophobic organisation

ALEPH MELBOURNE
MEDIA RELEASE: GOV’T GIVES $20K GRANT TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES TO HOMOPHOBIC ORGANISATION
JULY 13 2012

J-Wire reports [1] the Institute for Judaism and Civilisation (IJC) [2] has been awarded a $20,000 grant to produce a teaching manual of the shared values of Christianity, Islam and Judaism to strengthen resilience against violent extremism. Aleph Melbourne welcomes government grants of this nature and sees them as a valuable opportunity to further relationships between religious communities.

Attorney General Nicola Roxon describes of the Building Community Resilience grants program [3]:

We want to support local projects to build stronger, more inclusive communities. … Grants such as this will fund practical new activities to assist individuals and communities to resist and disengage from intolerant ideologies and encourage positive community participation.

Director of the IJC, Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen, is on the record in his 2012 submission to the Senate on “homosexual marriage” [4] as inferring that homosexuality is prohibited by God and that to allow any recognition of homosexuals is to show defiance to the universal ethics of God.

Cowen was also embroiled in a controversy earlier this year where he openly advocated for reparative therapy for gay people and that the anti-homophobic anti-bullying program Safe Schools Coalition Victoria be de-funded. [5]

Cowen’s stance is clearly at odds with this shared values program, which is described as funding “practical new activities to assist individuals and communities to resist and disengage from intolerant ideologies and encourage positive community participation.”

Cowen and the IJC have blatantly demonstrated an intolerance of homosexuality.

Michael Barnett, Convenor of Aleph Melbourne said, “By allocating this significant grant to such an organisation that fosters intolerant homophobic ideologies is a slap in the face to all same-sex attracted Jews, Christians and Muslims who are trying to gain acceptance in their respective communities. Further, it sends the message that homophobic intolerance is acceptable.”

Federal MP Michael Danby has commended Cowen and said that this grant will allow the faith communities to explore their similarities and avoid extremism.

Barnett said, “The irony of the situation is that followers of ultra-conservative religious perspectives common to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, people like Shimon Cowen, believe that practitioners of homosexuality are sinners who should be shunned and actively discouraged from acting on their innate sexual orientation. Some extremist viewpoints of these religions go so far as to say such people are worthy of death.”

Barnett calls on Danby and Roxon to revoke the $20,000 grant allocated to the IJC on the grounds that the IJC is a proponent of intolerant ideologies and to reallocate the funds to organisations that embrace diversity.

Further comment available from Michael Barnett on 0417-595-541.

[1] http://www.jwire.com.au/teaching-manual-to-be-produced-on-shared-values/
[2] http://www.ijc.com.au/
[3] http://www.livingsafetogether.gov.au/newsandblog/Pages/Building-resilient-communities.aspx
[4] http://aleph.org.au/2012/04/03/jewish-submissions-to-senate-enquiry-on-marriage-equality/
[5] http://aleph.org.au/2012/02/10/the-homosexual-anti-bullying-program-for-schools-an-unconscionable-strategem-afa-journal-vol-32-no-2-2011/

Update – January 5 2013 & October 5 2015

Since this media release was issued the AG web site link has changed. The new grants program page can be viewed http://www.livingsafetogether.gov.au/newsandblog/Pages/Building-resilient-communities.aspx. Details of the grant application in question can be viewed in full here and summary here.