Organiser of open letter, which had been signed by Troye Sivan, Guy Pearce and Missy Higgins, apologises for offence

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A high-profile petition calling for a new anti-bullying program in schools has been withdrawn as a result of criticism from the LGBTI community of its stated aim of “tolerance”.

Ben Grubb, a Sydney PR adviser, who organised and distributed the petition, apologised for causing offence in a blog post on Wednesday morning.

He wrote he would request for the petition, which eschewed equality for LGBTI people in favour of “only mutual respect and tolerance”, to be removed from Change.org.

Safe Schools: organiser of petition for new program defends 'tolerance' goal Read more

Grubb declined to comment to Guardian Australia. He had initially defended his wording of the petition in a blog post on Tuesday afternoon, hours after the criticism first surfaced.

Sally Rugg, a Safe Schools campaigner who had been publicly critical of Grubb’s petition, welcomed his apology and said it showed he had listened to the LGBTI community.

“It’s proof that when we all work together and listen to each other, good things can happen – which is perhaps where the project initially went wrong,” she said. “There was a unified response by the community that they were hurt by this and it wasn’t strategic or helpful.”

In his Wednesday blog post, Grubb wrote that his campaign was a personal, unpaid project he took on in response to news that the New South Wales government had dropped Safe Schools.

“As a gay person who went through the Christian and Catholic education systems, it made me think about what I could possibly do to help out as someone who had been bullied and had homophobic taunts yelled at them.”

There was “no ill will or malice intended” by the letter, signed by high-profile LGBTI people and allies, but he had erred by calling for “tolerance” and “mutual respect”, Grubb wrote.

The word “acceptance” had been removed on the advice of “a Canberra decision-maker” who Grubb had confidentially asked for advice how to maximise the likelihood of securing government funding.

Many LGBTI people had told him that doing so was “pandering to conservative views”, wrote Grubb, who said he had also ignored concerns raised with him before the letter was published.

Em Rusciano, a comedian and media personality who was given as one of the letter’s signatories, said on Twitter on Tuesday that she had been presented only with “a piece of paper that said I support Safe Schools”.

“I DID NOT sign this petition ... The language they have used is terrible, I am very upset,” she said in a series of tweets.

Em Rusciano (@EmRusciano) @armyluisyenking I didn't sign a https://t.co/oDJzzEGAsL petition. I signed a piece of paper that said I support safe schools. THAT LETTER was not attached.

Tracey Spicer, another signatory, had also said she had not seen its wording. The petition had more than 4560 supporters, close to its stated target of 5000, on Wednesday afternoon.

Asked whether she thought there was any good to be salvaged from Grubb’s campaign, Rugg said the open letter “concept was not unique” and that campaigning to save Safe Schools and achieve acceptance and equality for LGBTI people was ongoing.

Troye Sivan, Guy Pearce and Missy Higgins push for Safe Schools replacement Read more

Grubb’s petition had depicted the Safe Schools program as “this sort of unwieldy, toxic thing that needed to be watered down” when that was conservatives’ depiction of it.

The loss of NSW government funding did not mean the program was done, she said, noting that the change of government in Western Australia meant “another safe state”.

“There are more schools signed up to the Safe Schools program than ever before ... [It] is still alive and kicking and helping kids in classrooms.”

Rugg said the “unified” response to the petition showed that there was one strategy in place.



“It was promptly torn by the community and by activists but it wasn’t torn down as sport, [or] because people were angry that they weren’t consulted. People in the community were genuinely really hurt and frustrated, because it’s not part of the strategy that we’re all working on,” she said.

“I think it’s proof of the strength of our community and that we are singing from the song sheet.”