The chorus of voices speaking out against a controversial enrolment contract from a Brisbane Christian college is growing following a warning by the Human Rights Commission.
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A petition demanding the Citipointe Christian College recall their enrolment contract has now reached more than 100,000 signatures, as Queensland ministers, the Brisbane Lord Mayor and former students share their dismay.
"It's unacceptable for myself as a parent of a non-binary child, and it's very distressing," education minister Grace Grace said on Tuesday.
The contract, portions of which have been posted on social media, says the college believes any form of sexual immorality is sinful, and lists gay and bisexual acts alongside incest and adultery among others.
Later, it talks about "identifying with the genders that God bestowed upon each person in all aspects of their life".
"I don't know what the motivation was to send something like that out on a Friday, just before the students were due to start online learning on the Monday," Ms Grace said, saying the matter has been referred to the Non-State School Accreditation board.
Her comments follow a statement by the state's Human Rights Commission outlining how discrimination laws apply to schools.
"The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act has not permitted religious schools to discriminate against currently enrolled students because of their sexuality or gender identity for 20 years," it says.
"A school policy that requires a trans or gender diverse young person to be treated as their sex assigned at birth, or that requires a young person to hide or deny their sexuality, is likely to amount to unlawful discrimination."
In a statement on Sunday, Citipointe Principal, Pastor Brian Mulheran, said the college was seeking to "give parents and students the right to make an informed choice about whether they can support and embrace our approach to Christian Education".
""Citipointe does not judge students on their sexuality or gender identity and we would not make a decision about their enrolment in the College simply on that basis," he said.
The college declined to comment further when contacted on Tuesday.
Former student Felicity Myers said she was still processing the fact that the contract was a real document "that is so outrightly discriminatory", and a lot of people had contacted her since details were made public.
"Feelings of unworthiness, all the negative thoughts, a lot of people are reaching out to me and saying that this is all flooding back to them," she said on Tuesday.
Ms Myers said current students should know there are people fighting for them.
"W're trying to provide all the support from our end that we can," she said.
A website has now been launched linking free support services for students in the LGBTQIA+ community at educatelgbt.com
Queensland Attorney General Shannon Fentiman said "she is really shocked" that the kind of language in the contact is still being used.
"We want all of our students in Queensland to feel accepted and supported and included in their school community," she told ABC Radio Brisbane on Tuesday.
Brisbane Lord Mayor and former Citipointe student Adrian Schrinner said he would raise his concerns with the principal.
"I am reassured by his public statements that Citipointe does not discriminate against students because of their sexuality or gender identity," he said.
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