High School Formals

Will your formal be gay friendly?

12 October 2011 by admin in Emma, Formal Planning, Homepage, Homepage Featured, Latest

Almost a year ago today, newspapers across the country ran the controversial story of Hannah Williams, an Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar student, who was barred from taking her girlfriend, Savannah Supski, to the school's dinner dance.

A year on and Hobsons Bay City Council in Melbourne is making headlines for their decision to host the Masquerade Ball for Everyone - an LGBTI-friendly event aimed at encouraging inclusion, safety and support for young LGBTI people and their friends.

Responses to the news of Hannah’s exclusion from her formal ranged from public outcry over her rights being so callously infringed, through to angry rants from those who would prefer the gay community didn’t exist. Sad but true.

Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar stated that it was their policy that only boy/girl couples are allowed to the formal in line with their declared policy of promoting "gender balanced social experience".

But when you have other prominent girls schools, such as Methodist Ladies College, already allowing girl couples to go to the school formal, and you have parents supporting their children’s decisions, then this seems odd at face value, but even worse, it’s a clear case of discrimination.

The reality is that for many teens the school formal is the biggest event of their lives, so should schools have the right to exclude same-sex partners from attending? And should they have the right to do what Ivanhoe Girls Grammar did when they told Hannah she could attend, but only if she brought along a male partner instead? Which is worse?

Many schools argue that their decision to prevent same sex couples from attending is in the best interests of all the other students, but if these same students can attend classes with their LGBTI classmates throughout the year, then why can’t they attend their formal?

To many, the school formal is both a right of passage and a well-earned reward for the most grueling years of high school, so when schools ban or discourage same-sex couples from attending they are clearly discriminating against these students’ rights.

How many years will it be before this changes, we don’t know, but what we do know is that the times are indeed changing.

Look what’s happened in a year…