A high school in Renmark, Australia, has issued an apology after students were taught about bestiality during a presentation about “respectful relationships.” In addition to there being no teachers present during the session to supervise the instruction, the speaker told students that the practice of sexually abusing an animal is accepted by the LGBTQIA+ community.
According to ABC News, the South Australian Department for Education launched an investigation after a sex-ed presentation was delivered to ninth graders at Renmark High School by Headspace Berri, a publicly funded mental health foundation for Australians between the ages of 12 and 25.
Parents were reportedly not aware their children were participating in the unsupervised hour-long session, during which sex and sexuality were discussed in explicit terms. Included during the instruction was a graphic explanation of what each letter of LGBTQIA+ means.
Additionally, the presenter, whose identity has been kept anonymous at Headspace Berri’s request, provided personal anecdotes about their own sexuality and what it was like “growing up being confused about whether they idolized people of the same gender or wanted to be intimate with them.”
Speaking with ABC, Emelia Wundenbergone, a 14-year-old student, explained that when the “lived-experience speaker” got to a slide describing what the “plus” means, they “started randomly saying words that no one knew, like bestiality” and hinted that it was something members of the queer community practice, despite being illegal.
“There was a slide for what the ‘plus’ means, and they just started randomly saying words that no one knew, like bestiality,” she said, adding that several girls grew very uncomfortable and left the classroom under the guise of needing to use the lavatory.
“We’re all just sitting there like, ‘What the hell? What are we doing here? Why are we learning about animals having sex with humans?’ It was really disgusting, it was really uncomfortable.”
In response to the disturbing presentation, parents sent letters to the school’s principal, Mat Evans, expressing their anger that proper presentation procedures were not followed leading up to the session.
As a result, Evans acknowledged the school’s error and assured parents that while an investigation is underway, the third-party presenter has been suspended from department schools.
“We are undertaking an internal review to ensure that processes around such notifications and procedures with regard to third parties attending at our school are always met,” he said. “I acknowledge that some of the students felt uncomfortable with this content, and there have been a number of complaints from parents. I’d like to thank those parents for raising these concerns with me directly, and apologize to those families.”
News of the incident similarly sparked outrage on X (formerly Twitter) from many decrying the presentation as inappropriate for minors.
“Welcome to Headspace Australia. Am I surprised? No.” wrote Tania Marshall, a psychotherapist and author, before encouraging parents to consider homeschooling as an alternative to in-person instruction.
“This is where the toxic Woke left takes you: bestiality. Respectful relationships? With animals? By Headspace? To minors in a school?” she added.
“Excuse me. WHAT,” exclaimed gender critical commentator Hazel Appleyard.
“Some sickos at government child & adolescent mental health service @headspace_aus thinks high school ‘Respectful Relationships’ (Sex Ed) includes graphically describing to 14-year-old girls that ‘beastiality is accepted in the LGBTQIA+ community,'” added women’s rights campaigner Angela Jones.
Although both the school and Headspace Barri declined ABC’s request to share the contents of the presentation, its national head of clinical leadership, Nicola Palfrey, stressed that the organization is taking “all feedback very seriously and are reviewing how [it] can support and guide Headspace centers … to ensure presentations they facilitate or deliver are aligned with evidence and best practice and are safe and appropriate for young people.”
FocusOne Health Board chair Ian Gartley added: “We are aware of concerns raised by local members of the Renmark community following a presentation delivered by a lived experience speaker that Headspace Berri facilitated at Renmark High School. Our priority right now is ensuring that any young people and their families who may be experiencing distress receive the support they need.”
Due to the backlash, letters were also issued to the girl’s parents offering counseling with a social worker to offer emotional support to those affected by the presentation’s content.
