Parents of a prestigious Anglican school are banding together to oppose a controversial requirement for new principals and board members.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Illawarra Grammar School is facing backlash from parents who disagree with the requirement that forces incoming principals and board members of the Sydney Anglican Diocese-run school to sign a statement of faith, declaring that they oppose same-sex marriage.
The statement of faith, which was updated in 2019 per SBS News, reads, “This faith produces obedience in accordance with God’s word, including sexual faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman, and abstinence in all other circumstances.”
Last month, frustrated parents expressed their concerns about the statement of faith during the school’s Parents and Friends Association meeting. One parent wrote a letter to the school’s council claiming that the requirement failed to align with “the values of mainstream Australia or the community [the school] seeks to serve”.
The parent also claimed the statement “[reduced] the pool of candidates, potentially impacting the school’s leadership.”
“It is in full alignment with living Christian values to welcome and include all that are different, whether that difference is race, religion, marital status or sexual orientation,” the parent wrote, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
Following the meeting, Anthony Okely, who is the chair of the Illawarra Grammar School’s council, told the opposing parents that he recognised their concerns with the requirement.
“We have been clear with candidates that the school cares for and protects every student and does not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment,” Okely wrote in a letter that was sent out to parents this week.
Nadine Porter, a mother of opposes the requirement, told the Goulburn Post that she would be withdrawing her daughter from the school as the “policy was discriminatory.”
In May 2022, parents of St Catherine’s, which is located in Sydney East, also banded together to oppose the statement of faith. SBS News reported that the acting principal has not had to sign it but the school would be appointed a new principal by 2025.
Image Source: Instagram / @illawarragrammar
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