Mo, Mai 15th 2023
A Swiss middle school, Stäfa Schule in Zurich, last week canceled its annual “Gender Day” after staff members received threats over the event.
The school has held “Gender Day” for ten years to encourage students to “reflect on their own standards and values and to discuss gender identity and sexuality openly.” The topics are included in the “Lehrplan21” curriculum, which is a scholastic plan for German-speaking Swiss schools.
In the days preceding the event, more and more members of the community criticized the school; and, even Swiss politicians joined the heated discussions.
Roger Köppel, from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), released a video broadcast calling the event a “sexualization of school lessons.”
Fellow SVP member Andreas Glarner tweeted that all school management should be fired. In addition, he posted the school’s “Gender Day” invitation, including the phone number of the school’s social worker.
This year’s event, which was supposed to be held Monday, was called “Confronting transgender ideology,” which school staff now say was a poor choice of words. By late last week, the Stäfa Schule’s Head of Education Patrick Rüedi announced the event was cancelled.
“We cancelled the day primarily because of the security situation,” Patrick Rüedi told local newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. Even after the cancellation, the event continued to cause waves in local politics.
“The SVP distances itself from any threats,” SVP Zurich cantonal councilor Susanne Brunner told Keystone SDA. She added that “school events must be able to take place without police protection.”
Brunner said that while it is “right and important” for students to explore gender roles, the school should not have printed invitations with the transgender logo on it.
The Free Democratic Party (FDP) agrees that the invitation was “certainly not optimally titled.”
“You saw the word gender and completely lost your mind,” Social Democrat Rafael Mörgeli said to the SVP, saying that some politicians created “right-wing agitation.”
“Glarner is a perpetrator and arsonist,” said Yvonne Bürgin (Center Party) told Keystone-SDA. “He doesn’t take his responsibility as a politician seriously, but spreads intolerance and hate speech.”
Radical-Liberal Party politician Christian Haltner, who is president of the Stäfa municipality, said “national parliamentarians should not interfere in municipal autonomy…the school does not want to impose an opinion, but some elements were taken out of context in an emotionally wrong way.”
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