OPINION
Peter Allan Williams
Writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines although verbalising thoughts on www.reality check.radio three days a week
peterallanwilliams.substack.com
Here’s some news the mainstream media don’t want to report: there is significant opposition to gender ideology being taught in primary schools.
Family First asked the respected Curia polling company to find out the mood of the country on this issue.
The poll found that only 1 in 10 of the 1000 people surveyed think that primary school children should be taught they can choose their gender and that it can be changed through medical intervention if they want it to be. Over three quarters of those surveyed said that shouldn’t happen. Fourteen percent don’t know or didn’t answer.
On the matter of those taking part in sport, only 13 percent said boys who identify as girls should have automatic rights of access to girls sports teams such as in netball or rugby or football. This number has, remarkably, dropped from 39 percent in 2018 to a third of that in just 5 years.
What that says is that coverage of athletes like Laurel Hubbard and Lia Thomas, and the work of women’s rights activists like Ro Edge, has brought home to many the unfairness of having men and boys in girls and women’s sports teams and having men compete against women in events where strength is a dominating factor.
There’s also quite a pushback against puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex-change surgeries for those under 18. Over half of those surveyed supported a ban on gender affirmation treatment for those under the age of 18.
As Bob McCoskrie from New Zealand First says, the majority of New Zealanders are increasingly uncomfortable with the gender ideology curriculum being taught in most schools. He also has found anger and disbelief that parents can be kept out of the loop on all this and that a child’s social transitioning may be facilitated by the school without the parents being informed.
Family First wants the Ministry of Health to ban gender affirmation treatment for under 18s and to get the Ministry of Education to remove gender ideology from the relationships and sexuality education programme, RSE.
The results of these polls should come as no surprise to most of us, but one thing a new government led by the National Party should do is to ensure that the Ministry of Education cancels the contract with that outfit Inside Out which seems intent on creating havoc and confusion in the minds of many primary school age children with their talks and workshops on “inclusiveness.”
We know a new government has a major job ahead at the Ministry of Education. But is one task that should not be forgotten.