Fri 30 Sep 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A Give a Little page has been set up by a close friend to assist with expenses incurred when a notable lesbian secondary school teacher died while returning from an overseas visit to family in Canada. Carol Bartlett Carol Bartlett was, until her retirement, a senior teacher and Dean of English at Auckland's Henderson High School. She was outspoken on human rights, gender and sexuality issues and was for decades a powerful mentor for queer students. In 2003 she completed a masters thesis, Are you a lesbian Miss? Being Lesbian, A barrier to employment in NZ secondary schools. Bartlett died following a heart attack suffered on the return journey from a holiday in Canada where she had been fishing with a close friend and visiting family members. The aircraft was diverted to Honolulu where she died two days later. Difficulties relating to her travel insurance mean there may be a considerable expenses shortfall to cover and friends and associates are contributing through Give a Little. Bartlett was farewelled at an emotional but up-beat service on Wednesday afternoon which was officiated by Cissy Rock and attended by several hundred friends, family, people from the glbti community and past and present students. Amongst the many contributions and comments on the Give a Little page is the following from a queer past student: "Thank you Carol for being the best English teacher I ever had - for being so passionate about story-telling, the articulation of ideas, and for critically analysing popular media. Your support of LGBT+ students and matters went largely unnoticed, I thought, by those who didn't realise their words had power. Thank you so much for being an example of better change, for being so brave in the face of the homophobia at HHS, for remaining a teacher despite the hurtful things students said to you. As a queer individual, I looked up to you so much. Thank you for appreciating all of the diversity of life and creativity of individuals - I will never forget how kind you were to my violin teacher's daughter who was a special needs child, and you gave her crayons and paper to draw on. I will never forget you thanking HHS' first chamber group for our debut performance, despite how nervous we all were and how terrible (probably) my playing was. Thank you for always protesting for your feminist values - I will never forgot the time you wrote to the principal about the change in uniform that almost prohibited girls from wearing pants. I am utterly heart-broken to have never sent you my letter, explaining all of this is greater detail and thanking you in the most elaborate way. You were so special, a wonderful human being, and I hope this message will remind others of your great kindness, and that they will feel glad to have known you too. I truly, truly miss you." Carol Bartlett is survived by her partner Claire Gummer, who in the 1990s became the first professional gay journalist to work full-time reporting on and for the gblti communities, and her sisters and daughters and their families.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 30th September 2016 - 12:58pm