Hate Group Gives Kids Fake Christmas Presents On School Buses with Anti-Gay Pamphlets Inside

School children in Victoria, Australia, got a cruel surprise this week when an anti-gay advocacy group had school bus drivers hand out pamphlets that were disguised as Christmas presents to give to their parents, Huffington Post reports.

The festively wrapped fake presents were labeled “To the wonderful people who care for me everyday! Merry Christmas.” When parents and children opened the presents, however, they were shocked to find that they were actually anti-gay pamphlets criticizing Australia’s Safe Schools Coalition, which aims to make schools safe and inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) children.

The Safe Schools program describes itself as, “a national network of organizations working with schools to create safer and more inclusive environments for same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, staff and families.”

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The pamphlets were put out by Australia’s Marriage Alliance, a group that opposes the Safe Schools measures, according to Victoria’s The Age. Marriage Alliance identifies itself as a grassroots movement that “educates Australians about the consequences of same sex marriage on our lives.”

“How much do you know about safe schools?” the pamphlets ask, before warning parents of the alleged “unsafe aspects” of the Safe Schools program.

“Safe Schools uses a cover of anti-bullying to promote gender ideology on your children. Young children are taught about gender fluidity and transitioning, the concept of ‘two virginities’ and more.”

The pamphlets go on to warn parents that children as young as 4-years-old will be exposed to picture books about the “Gender Fairy” and that concerned parents will be told “tough luck.”

“One alarmed parent pulled her children out of school after her 14 year old son was told in science class that he could wear a dress to school,” the pamphlets further warned.

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One local resident said her younger brother attends the school and was excited to return home to give his parents the gift. When the “present” turned out to be anti-gay hate literature, she reported that her brother and mother were both upset, Australia’s Gay News Network reported.

“He went down to mum and they opened it together and that’s what it was — it was shocking,” she said.

“If they’re going to hand out something like that it should be approved – it’s sneaky and it’s really targeting the children. Mum was offended. And it’s upsetting for my brother – it said on it ‘To the people who have helped me through the year – Merry Christmas!’ It’s not cool.”

The concerned sister also said it was alarming that anybody could distribute anything at all to children on public school buses.

“It could have had anything in it,” she said. “That’s alarming in itself. They let anyone on the school bus.”

The school principal, Stuart Bott, issued a letter saying the pamphlets did not represent the views of the school. Bott said that he did not know how many school children received the fake presents, but they may have been given out on as many as 10 school buses. He reported that some of the school bus drivers had refused to pass the fake presents out on their buses.

“We are an inclusive school, and are working with families to say that won’t happen again,” he said.

Local LGBTI advocate Damien Stevens said the tactics were “foul” and designed to scare people.

“To do that around Christmas and to disguise the information in the form of a present is foul. The parents have opened it up in front of the child, the child says ‘what is this’, and then they have a conversation about it.”

The children attended Kyabram P-12 College, a school for children from preschool through high school. The school has refused to sign on to the controversial Safe Schools program, despite the fact that it is required for all high schools to sign up by 2018.

The school’s council has said that they already promote acceptance regardless of a person’s sexual orientation, race, religion, or age, and do not believe they have to align themselves with the Safe Schools Coalition.

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