School Renames Mother’s Day Event: ‘We No Longer Subscribe to a Binary World’

An Australian school renamed a Mother’s Day fundraiser this year and plans to do the same with a Father’s Day event because, the principal says, the world has changed.

Brunswick East Primary School in Melbourne traditionally holds a fundraiser each May called a “Mother’s Day stall” where homemade food is sold. This year’s stall, though, was re-named the “Appreciation stall.”  

Children were encouraged to purchase the food and use it as gifts on Sunday. 

“I sincerely hope that this change in name will show that we as a community recognize that our families are not made up of any particular combination of people and that we no longer subscribe to a binary world,” principal Janet Di Pilla wrote to families in a newsletter, according to the Melbourne Herald Sun.

She also apologized to families who were offended by the previous name. 

“I am sorry that in the past we have offended some members of our community and I hope that this acknowledgment goes some way to address any hurt which has occurred in the past,” Di Pilla wrote. 

She added there had been a “lot of discussion about the reason we celebrate these days and the naming of the celebration.” 

“I believe that days like this are important because we do need to stop and show gratitude for those around us,” the principal said, according to the newspaper. “The…