Troye Sivan‘s adorable mum has gone into bat for Safe Schools, the education initiative that aims to create a safer and more inclusive environment for LGBTIQ+ people and their families.
The anti-bullying program had its funding gutted by the Turnbull government in the lead up to this year’s election/clusterfuck, with the Libs making it painfully clear that the mental wellbeing of some of our most vulnerable school-age Australians just wasn’t that big of a deal as far as they were concerned.
But now, Mumma Sivan AKA Laurelle Mellet is holding them to account.
The Perth-via-South African popstar’s mum has just launched a petition via change.org, imploring the PM and Education Minister to save Safe Schools.
“Gay teens are 14 times more likely to kill themselves in Australia,” she writes. “Despite this, most schools won’t opt in to the program unless it’s made compulsory — it’s frightening.”
“My son Troye Sivan told us he was gay at 14,” she continues. “It made me nervous. I’d heard horrific stories of homophobic bullying and kids being suicidal at school. What’s worse is our education system won’t fight it.”
But Troye was lucky, she says. The singer’s coming out video went viral in 2013 and she “couldn’t be prouder of him”.
“Troye was lucky. Thousands of gay teens battle aggressive intimidation, exclusion and even attempts of suicide. To exclude anti-LGBTQI bullying programs from schools is beyond cruel. I’d like to think all parents would fight for a system that makes their child feel safe, not worthless.”
Her petition calls for “Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham to extend the funding for Safe Schools and make it compulsory for all schools to have the revised program”.
It’s already garnered over 4.5K signatures since launching yesterday.
So if you’d like to do a solid for Troye’s mum – and everyone else who wants to create a safer and more inclusive environment for our nation’s youth – you can add your signature to the petition here.
https://twitter.com/mamamellet/status/755295084648673280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
