Yesterday, the "Daily Telegraph" reported that gay lobbys were demanding the removal of "mum and dad" from language in schools and replaced by the generic term "partner". Department of Education and Training director-general Michael Coutts-Trotter has denied this was ever the case, saying there is no move to stop using terms such as boyfriend, girlfriend, mum or dad in public school classrooms.

Media reports that there are moves to stop using these terms are "simply wrong", Mr Coutts-Trotter said today.

A spokesperson from ACON also denied that this has ever been mentioned and did a number of other GLBT organisations in NSW contacted by GenQ, none of whom are lobbying for banning words.

One organisation has stated that they had suggested at the "That's So Gay" forum, that the use of the word "partner" was included in language when talking about parents, as not all families consisted of opposite sex parents. This was to also include children from non traditional families. "It appears that the Daily Telegraph took that suggestion and ran with it." they said.

Tags: gay australia, gay education