Students and staff of many schools around New Zealand have been marking Pink Shirt Day today, underscoring their intolerance of bullying. Wellington High School staffers wear pink(l-r): Kirsty Ferguson, Julia Beresford , Karen Goodall, Mark Pope , Caitlin Reilly, Jill Pettis Bullying is a significant cause of youth suicide and particularly affects glbt youth who are four times more likely to take their own lives than others of the same age. At Wellington High School, a highly urban school in the capital's CBD, most staff and "a fair sprinkling of students" sported pink clothing or smaller accessories, according to an observer. Guidance Councillor Mark Pope says the school supported the concept with posters and also notes that "most staff were wearing something pink." He says bullying has been addressed at assemblies and senior students were today handing out pink marshmallow fish to students wearing pink. At Gisborne Boy's High, a more rural school with a high percentage of Maori students, pink stickers were sported by almost all students, according to an Assistant Principal, Tom Cairns. "We were aware of the day and realised that many of the boys wouldn't have anything pink to wear so we decided to offer the pink stickers instead," he says. Most staff also wore something pink. He says form teachers have discussed the subject of bullying with their classes. The Acting Principal of Baradene College, a Catholic girls' school in Auckland, says they were not aware of pink shirt day. "We weren't contacted about it so haven't been observing it," she said Mt Roskill Grammar, a very multi-cultural school in suburban Auckland, says they were aware of Pink Shirt day but did nothing special to mark it. "We already have an extensive anti-bullying programme at the school," says the Head of Guidance Margaret Hoogendoorn. "Councillors go into all year nine classes and specifically address homophobic bullying as one of six types of bullying." She says pupils from "fundamentalist religious backgrounds" can have "misinformed ideas" about gays and lesbians which the school tries to address. "Most come to realise that tolerance and respect are at the basis of their religions," she believes. Hoogendoorn says no Mt Roskill Grammar students were sporting pink clothing or paraphenalia today as the school has a strict uniform code. GayNZ.com contacted two large suburban high schools in Christchurch but their spokespeople did not return our calls.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 28th April 2010 - 4:44pm