The parents of a 10-year-old transgender child have accused a Victorian school of trying to
“convert” their daughter behind their backs.
Olivia and Ryan told news.com.au their daughter Charlotte’s Christian school sent her to secret counselling sessions where they claim the school chaplain tried to convince her she was really a boy.
“We were concerned about it being conversion therapy … because we were unsure what was discussed,” Olivia said.
“The school says to me they [the sessions] weren’t about transgender. Charlotte says to me they only discussed transgender issues. So I know they lied to us.
“Charlotte’s class teacher said he was under instructions from the head of primary not to tell us.”
But the victimisation of Charlotte allegedly didn’t stop there – Olivia says teachers at the school refused to call her by her chosen girl’s name and physically separated her from the other girls during a classroom activity.
“Charlotte got really confident because all of the kids at school were calling her ‘Charlotte’ instead of her boy name and the teachers didn’t really like it,” Olivia said. “Teachers started acting vicious towards her.
“This teacher, who’s not her regular teacher, grabbed her by the arms, dragged her across the room. She [Charlotte] got really upset and she said to the teacher: ‘You don’t understand’.
“The teacher then screamed at her in her face, ‘No, I do understand and I do not care. You are going with the boys and that is it’.”
The school’s principal has denied the incident took place.
“At no point was Charlotte grabbed and screamed at by a teacher,” he wrote.
The principal also denied the counselling sessions were “conversion therapy” insisting the school “does not believe in, let alone practice, conversion therapy in any form”.
*Names have been changed.
