Father Paul Martin, St Patrick’s College’s rector, told student Malcolm Pimentel, a pupil he will not be allowed to attend the school ball this weekend if he wants to bring another boy as his date.
Fr Martin was reported as saying that the school had a policy in place that did not allow ”old boys” or boys from other schools to attend school functions.
”It’s a management issue. When you have boys from other schools or former students, you can have tensions between the students. Balls are complicated enough without adding another dimension.”
The director of gay young people’s rights group Q-Youth, Seb Stewart, said the discrimination against Malcolm was unlawful and behind the times.
Gilbert Wong , Human Rights Commission spokemans said the they receive a few complaints about pupils not being allowed to bring same-sex partners to school balls each year, but said the St Patrick’s case had not been brought to its notice.
Such a complaint could raise questions of discrimination under the Human Rights Act, he said.
More information:
NZ Herald, Dominion Post, Frog Blog
Comment from The Hand Mirror Blog http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/2011/06/school-balls.html