Wednesday 14th May - Page 4

Schools coy on gay couples at formals













Concerned ... Open Doors youth support staff, coordinator Lisa Thorpy and administration worker Dion Reid

Photo: Rob Lockyear


Rob Lockyear, Sandhya Shetty and Grace Winzar

City schools refuse to say whether they will follow Anglican college Churchie's ban on same-sex couples at school formals.

Calls and faxes to six inner-city schools resulted in a dive for cover by principals of some of Brisbane's most prestigious colleges.

Independent reporters asked each principal to say whether they would let students take a same -sex partner to the school formal.

We also asked whether they had had any requests by students to take same-sex partners, whether same-sex partners had attended previous school dances, whether they in fact had a policy on the issue and if so, the reasons for their policy. They were also invited to make any general comments on the issue.

The schools all refused to say what their policy was, or even whether they had a policy.

Schools approached were Brisbane Grammar, Brisbane Girls' Grammar, St Joseph's College Gregory Terrace, All Hallows' School, St James College Fortitude Valley and Somerville House at South Brisbane.

The schools were asked their comments after the board of Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) last week endorsed its principal's refusal to permit boys at the single-sex school to take male partners to the forthcoming senior formal.

The Brisbane colleges either issued a "no comment" response or their principals repeatedly refused to accept calls from the Independent.

Their reluctance echoed the response of six schools approached last month by northside paper the Northern Times.

"Only one school, St Paul's School at Bald Hills, had the courage to state its policy," reported the Times, which also quoted Premier Anna Bligh's call for public debate on the issue.

"We can't put our head in the sand on this," Ms Bligh said.

Meanwhile a Fortitude Valley gay and lesbian youth service working with students from Churchie warned of the potential dangers of banning same-sex couples at formals.

In a letter shown to this newspaper, Churchie said the ban on gay couples at their formal was not "anti-gay" as portrayed in the media.

But Open Doors Youth Service coordinator Lisa Thorpy said this explanation lacked analysis of what anti-gay means.

"Unfortunately Churchie is acting in an anti-gay manner whether they are prepared to recognise it or not," she said.

Ms Thorpy has called for schools to further discuss the issue at school council level.

"I think they will find there are more advantages than disadvantages," she said.

Ms Thorpy said the Churchie boys were overwhelmed by the experience and were now focussed on completing their final year.

"They didn't expect it to get the level of response it got," she said. "They're good boys."

Open Doors Youth Service chairman Russel Flynn said the ban was an act of homophobia and could affect the mental health of young men.

"We think this edict does much to reinforce to the young people that who they are is inherently unacceptable, and that can be very harmful," he said.

The Queensland Education Department has no policy about school formals including taking same-sex partners.

However it said under their Inclusive Education policy all students should be valued for their different circumstances and no student should be discriminated agaisnt.