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Citipointe Christian College referred to Queensland Human Rights Commission over controversial enrolment contract

Former student Felicity Myers and her mother Elise, Janina Leo and her daughter Emmey Leo, who is also a former student, with Ms Alexander. (ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz)

Citipointe Christian College, which made headlines over its "controversial" enrolment contract in February, has become the subject of discrimination complaints lodged with the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

The Brisbane college demanded parents sign a contract at the beginning of the school year that denounced homosexuality and stipulated students could only be enrolled on the basis of their "biological sex".

The contract included "a statement of faith" that described homosexual acts as "immoral", comparing them to acts of bestiality, incest, and paedophilia.

The matter was referred to the Non-State School Accreditation Board before the school withdrew the contract and principal Brian Mulheran resigned, in March.

Parents of former students at the school said they are taking legal action on Thursday to prevent further instances of discrimination at Citipointe, and other Australian schools, on the basis of sexuality and gender identity.

Elise Myers's queer daughter Felicity attended Citipointe Christian College and will be one of the five people pursuing a discrimination complaint.

"The deeper issue is putting policies and procedures in place so that this doesn't happen again, and so that we create an environment that's safe and inclusive for all students," Ms Myers said.

Ms Myers, who has two other children currently at the school, said the "unthinkable" contract had been an "affront" to her family. 

"If you think about what our core values are in sending our children to a Christian school, we think of those big values of love and respect, equality, justice, and this kind of discrimination obviously does not fit anywhere in those."

In light of this, Ms Myers said it had been "difficult" to keep her children enrolled at the school but they decided to stay to see if the school would change.

Former student Felicity Myers and her mother Elise Myers, who still has two children at the school. (ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz)

Felicity Myers said she brought the complaint forward because of the impact it had on her mental health.

"I know the implications of being in a school environment where you are not accepted for who you are, where you have to hide who you are, where you have to repress your identity, the damage that has on my mental health, and to a lot of queer people's mental health at that school."

'Back on forth over formal dress'

Parent Janina Leo said the contract was potentially drafted because her child Emmey wanted to wear a dress to her formal last year.

"She was able to do that, but we had to have quite a significant back and forth with the school," she said.

"When it came to this year and we found that the contract had clauses in it that would expel students like Emmey … we were devastated that the school would go to that length."

Janina Leo and her daughter former student Emmey Leo, who are taking part in the action. (ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz)

Ms Leo said Emmey also felt discriminated against by curriculum material that compared transgender people to paedophiles.

"This has been an ongoing issue for us over several years and we don't want to stay silent about that … we need to make sure … that laws are strengthened to protect kids from harm," she said.

'These harms are real and have real impacts'

LGBTI+ Legal Service patron and solicitor Matilda Alexander said the enrolment contract was a breach of Queensland's anti-discrimination laws and caused "serious harm" to students.

They are calling for an inclusive policy that would guarantee students would not be discriminated against in the future.

If that is not resolved by the commission, then they would want the matter referred to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a "binding determination".

"We want to send a strong signal to schools and the community that this kind of behaviour is not OK and it has consequences in the law," Ms Alexander said.

Matilda Alexander from the Queensland LGBTI+ Legal Service (ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz)

Ms Alexander said inclusive school policies that account for changes to a student's name, uniform and pronouns are lifesaving.

Ms Alexander said there could potentially be more complaints to be lodged in coming weeks.

Former students wants federal intervention

Speaking in front of Queensland parliament on Thursday, Ms Myers said she would like to see the Citipointe school implement inclusive policies that would ensure the safety of future students.

Ms Alexander said they are also calling on the Albanese government to implement stronger human rights protections at a federal level.

Ms Alexander said public and private schools were equally protected under the provisions of the anti-discrimination laws in Queensland.

"We would like to see a federal Human Rights Act, and federal human rights protections against discrimination on the basis of religion, sexuality and gender identity, as they are protected in Queensland," she said.

"Equality [at a federal level] is something that we need to ensure that all children are protected,."

Citipointe Christian College declined to comment.

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