Within the past month in New Zealand there has been a lot of media hype regarding the passing of the Marriage Equality Bill that aims to redefine marriage as something other than an exclusive bond between man and woman. However, despite the generally strong support for this, some individuals maintain opposition to this amendment and, if able, punish those that support this movement. The most publicised occurrence of this was the suspension and subsequent sacking of my old chemistry teacher from his position because he supported students who wished to stage a silent protest against the remarks made by the principal in the school newsletter.Now, some individuals have claimed that because it is a religious school these views are to be expected and, if the teacher involved had an issue with this, he should not have accepted the job.
However, is it not the responsibility of a principal to maintain justice within a school and prevent discrimination against others?
After having personally spoken to various members of the school as well as the principal and teacher involved I have uncovered a variety of view-points
The Principal
Richard Stanton, the principal of Pompallier Catholic College, published this newsletter to affirm the Catholic stance on same sex marriage. This is a historical matter and no-one that I have talked with has raised this as an issue. The issue that most commonly occurs is the apparent belief that homosexual couples would make lesser parents due to their likelihood of commodifying their adopted children.
When I asked the principal about the connotations he makes towards those who adopt or use IVF treatment as treating their child(ren) as a "commodity" rather than a "gift from God", he stated that that was his personal opinion and that he "sees no possible way in which those remarks could be offensive to any individual". However, he only applies this observation of the "itemization" of adopted or IVF children to homosexual couples and yet failed, in our discussion, to believe that heterosexual couples that could not naturally conceive would act in a similar nature.
The Teacher
The teacher, Nigel Studdart, who picked up on these connotations was "absolutely shocked" that a school was able to publish such "harmful allegations" especially considering the high rate of youth and queer youth suicides present in New Zealand. Although he is respectful of others opinions, Nigel was astounded that such inflammatory views could be published in an unbiased forum. Although he requested that the principal apologise to the school for any harm made by Richard Stanton, his request was denied. The next week he was suspended from active teaching days prior to senior examinations for "inciting revolt against school uniform policy" by supporting his daughters at the school in their efforts to host a silent protest with various students wearing rainbow coloured ribbons on their shirts or around their wrists. Nigel was so passionate about this that he even risked further action by appearing on national television show CloseUp to share his opinions on the article.
The Students
Student opinions have been predictably divided on the issue with some throwing their full support behind the movement and others stating that they "couldn't care less". It has been stated that a student who set up a "Gay rights at Pom" Facebook page was removed from class and forced to remove the page in front of the principal under the threat of expulsion if she refused to do so. Following the permanent removal of Nigel from teaching at Pompallier, students commented on his Facebook page with messages of support such as:
"I can't believe it, just like that my favourite teacher is gone."
"I'm so annoyed about this, it's such a big loss to Pompallier I never had you as my teacher but my peers have and have all told me how fabulous you are. I hope everything turns out okay Mr Studdart best of luck."
"There goes the best teacher in the school good luck with whatever you plan to do now."
Personally I was taught by him last year and he was one of the most inspirational teachers that I have ever met. Everyday he was full of enthusiasm and managed to get the most demotivated student excited about things such as "Bond enthalpy" and "Le Chatlier's Principle".
The Parents
As well as students, many parents have also been outraged by this turn of events with parents even going so far as to remove their children from the school or to complain to various members of the school management. As well as these remarks however, one of the parents involved is the recipient of a New Zealand Bravery Star who was outraged that a publicly funded school could share such dangerous ideas with impressionable teenagers, stating that bullying and mistreatment of individuals could follow this publication.
Overall this comes down to whether or not it is OK for a principal (who is there to enforce the well-being of every student) to air his own personal views within a school newsletter and then persecute any member of staff that holds a contrary opinion.
I welcome any emails regarding your opinions on this and thank-you for reading my first blog!
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