A mother has launched legal action after her teenage daughter was traumatised by a sex education presentation that allegedly covered bestiality and incest.
Nicki Gaylard pulled her three children out of South Australia’s Renmark High School in March 2024 after her 14-year-old daughter Courtney and her Year Nine classmates attended a session conducted by third-party organisation Headspace Berri.
The presentation was part of a Respectful Relationships program designed to ‘promote LGBTQIA+ inclusivity and acceptance’.
Bestiality and ‘sisterly love, brotherly love’, were among the topics covered during the hour-long session, which was not supervised by teachers.
Ms Gaylard claims that when a student asked what bestiality involved, they were allegedly told ‘it means having sex with animals, but don’t Google it’.
The Year Nine students were also allegedly shown a photo of someone who had undergone gender-transition surgery.
Ms Gaylard says that her daughter’s childhood was cut short after she was exposed to the inappropriate material, and has launched legal action against the SA Department for Education in the Federal Court.
‘Why were they putting ideas in her head, making her question why she loves her siblings?’ the mother-of-six told The Australian.
Nicki Gaylard (left) is taking legal action against her daughter’s school after Courtney (right) attended a sex education presentation which allegedly covered bestiality and incest
Ms Gaylard took her children out of Renmark High School (pictured) after the incident
‘We’ve got two pet dogs and as soon as she walked in the gate, she said “Mum, I don’t want to look at the dogs anymore”. How do you get those thoughts out of her?’
Ms Gaylard also claims that Headspace Berri has refused to provide access to the presentation content, despite multiple requests.
‘How can they be happy to show to children what they are ashamed to show to adults?’ she told the publication.
The SA Education Department said the presentation at Renmark High School was unacceptable.
‘It was an isolated incident and steps have been taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again,’ a spokesperson said.
The department has suspended Headspace Berri from delivering the program to public schools.
Headspace National has conducted a review into FocusOne Health, the operator of Headspace Berri.
‘While the presentation was intended to promote LGBTIQA+ inclusivity and acceptance and acknowledge the historical and continuing discrimination and challenges this community faces, there were aspects of the presentation that were not appropriate for young people,’ a spokesperson said.
