Sexual Orientation Inequality

http://www.smh.com.au/national/private-schools-foster-prejudice-exjudge-20130525-2n3yw.html (Mcllroy, 2013)

The inequality felt by the gay community in Australia is an issue that is exacerbated by the disproportionate and increasing private and religious schooled politicians in parliament. This problem was addressed by former Judge of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby.

Kirby denounced the influential positions of judges and parliament members with private school attendance due to their skewed views and values. The strong values against the gay community are due to the fostering of prejudice by private education. How could it be possible for alumni’s of private schools to operate with an open mind if they have been influenced to view these groups as intrinsically evil? 

Approaching this issue of equality from a power perspective, we can see how it resonates with distributive justice. This concept refers to the ‘the way in which social institutions ... distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the distribution of advantages from social cooperation.” (Rawls, 1972). The discrimination on the gay community by society and the law is a result of poor distribution of justice towards the gay community by the power of government. Lack of acknowledgment of minor communities is an issue in our society and the base of this problem as addressed by Kirby, is due to the influence of education systems on development of an individual’s values.

I now move onto the public sector of education which although described by Kirby as better facilitating the gender minorities, also fails to represent these groups. It is not uncommon to hear student banter in the playground with the punch line of their jokes being the word faggot. This poor understanding of cultures by students would often be fallen on deaf ears by teachers who are meant to be performing as an authoritative figure. More often than not, this will be how these situations play out in our schools and may be the early pathways leading towards forming gender discriminating views as they will be conditioned to think it is acceptable behaviour. This behaviour is also exacerbated by the social pressures and expectations of men being manly hence the use of terms such as ‘faggots’, ‘fairies’ and ‘gays’ are seen as an attack on an individual’s autonomy. These gender issues have seeped their ways into education systems through some schools banning certain lifestyle choices such as banning male students from wearing earrings and monitoring of length of hair.

With all these social pressures to act in accordance to what society views as a man, there is little surprise that in our society there exist such strong oppositions to the gay community. Although the schooling environment has implicitly sowed the seeds of gender discrimination, there fails to be any proactive acknowledgement of these issues evident in the school curriculum and teaching instructions. It is no longer adequate to simply protect minority groups in the playground (Lugg, 2003). This is not social justice; it is merely sweeping the issue under the carpet.

Lugg, C. A. (2003). Education Administration Quarterly . Sissies, Faggots, Lezzies, and Dykes: Gender, Sexual Orientation, and a New Politics of Education?, 97-129.

Mcllroy, T. (2013, May 26). The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from Private schools foster prejudice: ex-judge: http://www.smh.com.au/national/private-schools-foster-prejudice-exjudge-20130525-2n3yw.html

Rawls, J. (1972). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Belknap.