QUEENSLAND LETTER:SYDNEY'S GAY and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, still attracts a few hundred protesters along with 10,000 participants and 300,000 observers. But, by and large, it has become an annual festival of pride, not protest.
However, a new front of protest has opened 982km (610 miles) up the road in Brisbane, with gay students at one of Queensland's most prestigious boys' schools being told they can't take their partners to the debs (known as the "school formal" in Australia).
Following representations made on behalf of eight gay pupils, the Anglican Church Grammar School, better known as "Churchie", said they could attend the June 19th formal, but must take a member of the opposite sex. "The senior dinner dance is an opportunity for our young men to escort a young woman in a formal school environment," said "Churchie's" headmaster Jonathan Hensman.
"We don't intend to change our practice. As well as being a social occasion, it's an education forum and to that end the school decides what is appropriate behaviour and what is not . . . Not all students take their girlfriends. Some take a female friend. It's about protocols and decorums."
But one of the gay students involved told Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper he approached "Churchie's" head of Senior School, Dr Phil Cummins, who told him if he did not make a big deal about it, the tradition of allowing only female formal partners would be "quietly changed".
"Dr Cummins said to me, 'if you start a political movement this is going to get blown out of proportion. If you go quietly about this and if you don't cause us too much trouble, we will just quietly change the rules so they're allowed and no one gets hurt'," the student said.
"At the start of 2006, there was no one at the school who was openly gay in 'Churchie' but now there are dozens. You could say it's the changing times, but it's been brought about by the efforts of a few brave individuals."
The student said his experiences at "Churchie" were usually good. "Generally it's a very accepting school. It's not like anyone has ever been persecuted for being gay. A few students will have second thoughts about going to the formal because of all this," he said.
It's not just the Anglican college which has taken a position against taking gay partners to formals; Queensland Catholic Education executive director Mike Byrne says their schools will not allow it either. "We would not see it as appropriate for couples in a same-sex relationship to attend an event such as a school formal," he said.
"Where young people are concerned, there are often matters associated with sexuality and relationships - both heterosexual and homosexual - where schools provide a range of support services for students."
The Catholic Church has escaped much further scrutiny on the issue though, as the media has mostly followed the story's Anglican origin.
The Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia and Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Phillip Aspinall, is also president of "Churchie's" school council. Speaking on ABC radio he said: "I have no personal objection to a school deciding to allow boys to take friends who are boys, or girls to take friends who are girls to school formals.
"But I understand in this particular instance the school has decided that its approach is to emphasise the interaction of young men and young women and providing them with an opportunity to do that in this kind of formal setting. I think that's a reasonable and legitimate approach," said Dr Aspinall.
Since the story first broke last weekend it has made newspaper, TV and radio headlines around Australia. But the internet is where the debate really took off.
Many people who posted negative comments to web discussion forums used the Bible to justify their opposition.
"This is an Anglican college. A Christian college. Some trendy false Christians who have neglected to read their Bibles may be unaware of it, but God abhors homosexuality and has damned homosexuals to hell for eternity. It is in the Bible. Read it," wrote Carl Thompson of Gold Coast. Mr Thompson went on to quote Leviticus and First Corinthians before adding: "If they want to wave a rainbow flag let them go to a government (non-religious) school."
Among the bile and bigotry were words of support. "I hope this story gets international coverage and exposes Queensland for the homophobic backwater that it is," said Alan of Ashmore. The issue may soon be headed for Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Commission (ADC). This week all 215 of "Churchie's" final-year students were sent an anonymous e-mail with the subject heading "Stand up for your rights". An official ADC complaint form was attached.
