Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ordered his own department to remove gender-neutral signage on bathroom doors, lambasting them as “ridiculous.”
He also called the signs “political correctness”, “not necessary” and “over the top” before vowing to “sort out” who was responsible for the signage and have them removed.
Mr Morrison’s promise of intervention came after an image of a sign was posted to Twitter by a Canberra journalist, which showed a facility in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet staff as open for employees to, “use the bathroom that best fits your gender identity.”
Meanwhile at the Barton offices of Prime Minister and Cabinet… pic.twitter.com/oVL9f0xrXe
— Chris Uhlmann (@CUhlmann) August 29, 2019
It clearly notes the department is “committed to staff inclusion and diversity”.
But when asked about the sign, Mr Morrison said: “I don’t think this is necessary. I think people can work out which room to use.”
“It’s ridiculous … It’s political correctness over the top,” he told 2GB Radio.
“I’ve got a pretty clear view about this and I’m sure this will be sorted.”
Asked whether the signs would come down, Mr Morrison said: “That’s what I expect”.
This is not the first time the prime minister has lambasted modern trends in neutral gender assignment.
Last year, Scott Morrison criticised a report saying teachers were being taught how to spot potentially transgender students.
And earlier this month, he called a decision to allow transgender and gender-diverse people play cricket at the highest level “heavy-handed” and “mystifying.”
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