Parents outraged over American ‘chastity preacher’ visiting Australia lecturing schoolkids about the virtues of virginity and modesty: ‘Outdated’

A controversial US ‘chastity preacher’ has sparked outrage among parents who do not want him speaking at their children’s schools.

Parents and students are asking their schools to cancel a string of appearances from Chastity Project founder, Jason Evert.

Mr Evert, from Arizona, intends to deliver his ‘love or lust’ lecture at Wahroonga’s St Leo’s Catholic College in Sydney’s north, East Gosford’s St Joseph’s all-girl Catholic college and Warnervale’s MacKillop Catholic College on the NSW central coast.

He will ‘discusses relationships in a non-judgemental way’, a letter to parents of children at the schools read.

Parents were told that the lecture would include topics like the virtues of chastity, virginity and the negative effects of pornography, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

This will be Mr Evert’s seventh time delivering speeches in Australia as part of Chastity Project’s ‘outreach program’ which seeks to ‘educate’ children around the world.

One parent from St Joseph’s, Alison Read, told the outlet that she did not want her daughter picking up any ‘out-of-date views about keeping herself “pure”.’

Another mother, Sarah Greenaway, wrote a letter to the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay about how Mr Evert’s ‘perspectives can be harmful and alienating’ for students. 

In a book he authored in 2006, Mr Evert had claimed that homosexual acts were ‘disordered’.

Despite Mr Evert claiming to have removed the quote more than 10 years ago, Ms Greenaway insisted in her letter that his views did not ‘align with many of the teachings of modern Catholicism’.

Commentary videos the chastity preacher posts online have also caused backlash, including one where he said ‘most women do not want’ to take the contraceptive pill.

An online petition launched by parents and students at St Joseph’s to cancel its event featuring the preacher received more than 700 signatures in one day. 

In response to the backlash Mr Evert told the publication that ‘the only reason why I am being invited back’ to Australia for more speeches is because people like him.

‘The presentation is not about hate, bigotry, or medical misinformation, it’s a positive message that focuses on chastity as a virtue that frees us to love,’ Mr Evert said.

‘And in terms of the subject of modesty, I think it’s a virtue that men as well as women would do well to rediscover.’

The Sydney Catholic Diocese’s Centre of Evangelisation hosted Mr Evert’s ‘love or lust’ lecture in 2023. 

In the presentation Mr Evert used statistics to show how abstinence lowers divorce rates and that a lack of modesty can lead to objectification. 

‘I didn’t even know how to treat a girl until I dated one in college who dressed modestly,’ he said at the time.

In another tangent he said that if a woman ‘thinks she’s ready for sex, [but] she’s not ready to be a mother, then she has no clue what she’s talking about’.

A spokeswoman for Catholic Schools Broken Bay said guest speakers like Mr Evert can provide ‘reassurance and certainty’ for students’ relationships and sexuality.

Mr Evert’s sessions will not be compulsory for students due to the sensitivity of the subject matter but parents told the ABC nobody had informed them that was the case before the controversy. 

St Joseph’s principal Carolina Murdoch wrote a letter telling parents that their feedback had been passed along to Mr Evert.

‘Jason was grateful for the opportunity to receive the feedback and provided assurances that his presentation will be delivered in a very compassionate and charitable manner,’ the letter read.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Jason Evert and Catholic Schools Broken Bay for comment.