St Joseph’s College Refuses to Surrender to Gender Ideology

Headmaster of Joeys stands up for biological reality against calls to allow trans-identified girls into the Catholic boys boarding school.

A School for Boys, Not an Apology

St Joseph’s College (Joeys), Hunters Hill, one of Australia’s oldest and most respected Catholic boys’ schools, has spent the past fortnight fending off a media pile-on over a policy that says, in plain terms: a school for boys is for boys.

The College’s conditions of enrolment define a student as “a child of the biologically male sex who identifies as such.” [1] For holding that line, Joeys has been recast overnight by parts of the press as extreme and “hard-line.” [2] The truth, as usual, is far less dramatic than the headlines want it to be.

What the Headmaster Actually Said

In an end-of-term letter to parents, Headmaster Michael Blake set the record straight. “We do not have a new enrolment policy,” he wrote, explaining that the wording now generating headlines has quietly sat in the College’s conditions of enrolment since 2020. [1] He defended the College’s position instead of backing down to trans and trade union activists. Headmaster Blake should be commended for his courage.

Blake pushed back on the suggestion that Joeys turns boys away the moment they begin questioning their gender, dismissing that the College would expel such students. [1] That is not the language of an institution trying to punish it’s students. It is the language of a school balancing its identity and pastoral duties.

The Law Is on Their Side, For Now

Joeys has every right to do this. Section 56 of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 has a specific carve out for religious organisations, to ensure they can follow their own teachings. [3] Even critics of the Act concede its religious exemptions are among the strongest of any state in the country — broad enough to cover exactly this kind of enrolment decision at a Catholic boys’ school.

This law recognises, correctly, that a Catholic school for boys should be allowed to remain a Catholic school for boys, without a bureaucrat or an activist lawyer threatening it. However, the NSW Law Reform Commission is conducting an ongoing review of the entire Act — a review activists are already using to push for these very exemptions to be stripped out. [4]

What Happens Without This Protection

Just last month, the Full Federal Court handed down its ruling in the Giggle v Tickle case, finding that a women-only app had directly discriminated against a biological male by declining to admit him. [5] Once “gender identity” is recognised in law, no single-sex space is safe from being redefined by a court, whether it is an app, a change room, or a Catholic school. If the religious exemptions in the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act are removed, then there will be no single-sex spaces for Catholics or any group that  recognises biological reality. Trans ideology will be mandated by law.

Also read: How the LGBT-lobby tries to influence your children

The Union That Wants Catholic Schools to Stop Being Catholic

The Independent Education Union’s (IEU) Branch Secretary Carol Matthews argued that Joey’s policies harm the mental health of staff and students. [1] In the same breath, Matthews raised staff being divorced and remarried, using contraception, or accessing IVF as issues that faith-based schools should not be allowed to consider in employment decisions. [1]

That is not a plea for tolerance. It is a demand by a secular lobbyist that Catholic schools stop being Catholic, and that they surrender the very doctrinal freedoms Parliament wrote into law. Joeys has stood its ground against this blatant anti-Catholic attack by a trade union activist.

Protecting Every Boy in the Dorm

It is worth remembering what kind of school this actually is. Joeys is the largest all-boys boarding school in Australia, home to more than 900 boarders sharing dormitories, bathrooms, and communal living spaces built around a single-sex model. A clear, consistently applied definition of who that model serves is not cruelty; it is the bare minimum of clarity that boys and their families are owed when they sign up to live in shared facilities for years at a time.

Being forced to admit trans kids creates a wide range of problems that a College like Joeys shouldn’t have to deal with. Having biological males and biological females who “identify” as boys sharing dorms, bathrooms, showers, and other private spaces is not conducive to the moral formation that Joeys prides itself on. Protecting the College’s freedom to maintain their Catholic values is the best way to ensure it can properly educate their students.


References
[1] Gabriela Amoils, “Elite Sydney boys’ school sparks debate with policy on gender identify”, news.com.au, 26 June 2026. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/elite-boys-school-sparks-debate-with-new-gender-policy/news-story/17bc1c15fdc8578ed21e29380526d756 

[2] “The Last Outpost of Reality: Sydney Catholic All-Boys School States Boys Will Be Boys”, The Daily Declaration, 23 June 2026: https://dailydeclaration.org.au/2026/06/23/sydney-catholic-all-boys-school/

[3] Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), s 56: https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/aa1977204/s56.html

[4] NSW Law Reform Commission, Anti-Discrimination Act review: https://lawreform.nsw.gov.au/projects/anti-discrimination-act-review.html 

[5] Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd v Tickle [2026] FCAFC 64 (15 May 2026); Australian Human Rights Commission media release: https://humanrights.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/media-releases/sex-and-gender-rights/full-federal-court-finds-two-acts-of-direct-discrimination-in-giggle-v-tickle-appeal