It's High School Ball season, and an investigation by a Dunedin newspaper has found out what twelve secondary school principals think about pupils bringing their same-sex partners to school formals.
Most of the principals surveyed told Dunedin's Star that their school had no specific policy on same-sex Ball dates, or believed it was not an issue. However, Taieri College principle Paul Bolton said "they can bring anyone they like, we don't care in the slightest. We have a policy at our school of celebrating diversity."
Rainbow Youth Executive Director Tom Hamilton tells GayNZ.com he's worried about the schools which seem to have no awareness that LGBT students exist.
"It's swept under the carpet at some schools. If no students have tried to take their same-sex partner to the school Ball, I'd wonder whether they feel safe telling anyone there that they're gay or lesbian," he says.
Rainbow Youth ran an 'Alternative Ball' event for same-sex attracted young people last year, and works with schools in the Auckland region on 'Gay-Straight Alliances' to increase awareness of LGBT students in school culture and policies.
"Same-sex attracted students should be able to choose to take their partner to their School Ball if they want to. It's a basic human right, and an important step for some of them," adds Hamilton.
The Star also spoke to a 16-year-old male student who said he had to take a female friend to his school formal after three teachers had told him he could not take his male partner. His family "supported him 100%" says the newspaper.
Otago PhD candidate Lee Smith says she believes some schools deliberately block students from bringing same-sex dates to formals. "If this is so then schools concerned could be seen as breaching the Human Rights Act… discrimination on the ground of sexuality was made illegal," she told the Star.
