P.P.T.A. denies bias on homosexual bill

Press, 4 April 1985, Page 28

P.P.T.A. denies bias on homosexual bill

PA Wellington The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association has denied a claim by Mr Graeme Lee, member of Parliament for Hauraki, that it had a biased attitude to the petition opposing the Homosexual Law Reform Bill. Mr Lee, one of the petition organisers, said the association had a “forked tongue” and a biased

attitude towards the petition.

He said claims by the P.P.T.A. that circulation of the petition in high schools was contrary to the spirit of new sex education legislation were wholly inaccurate.

Mr Lee, who has organised the petition with a Government back-bencher, Mr Geoff Braybrooke, said the sex education legislation applied only to primary and intermediate schools. He also said the P.P.T.A. had agreed at its conference last year to support reform of the homosexual laws, with the age of consent being 16.

That indicated a forked tongue and biased attitude, he said.

The P.P.T.A. president, Mr Tony Steele, said that sex education legislation before Parliament did not apply only to primary and intermediate schools — it also applied to secondary schools.

“P.P.T.A.’s conference did not agree to support homosexual law reform with the age of consent being 16,” he said.

“What P.P.T.A. does say

is that it is unacceptable for outsiders to circulate political petitions in secondary school playgrounds. “The unaccceptable behaviour of the petitioners contrasts markedly with the stringent controls on sex eduation and the careful consultation with parents which current legislation proposes for secondary schools,” he said.