the constance effect

Hannah Williams’ Anti-Lesbian Principal Heather Schnagl Is a Big Fat Liar

Hannah Williams, the 16-year-old lesbian Australian student who was barred from bringing her girlfriend to her all-girls school to a school dance, won’t be changing the mind of administrators anytime soon. Her principal maintains Williams was refused a same-sex date not because the school is anti-gay, but because Year 11 girls are barred from bringing Year 10 dates. Bullshit, says Williams. Again.

Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School Principal Heather Schnagl (email her at [email protected]) is trying to have it both ways in this News 10 interview. She insists Williams’ younger girlfriend Savannah Supski, 15, isn’t allowed to go because she’s too young, but also that administrators “ask that the guests be male only to create a mixed event.” Asks? Or demands?

Moreover, says Williams, a Year 10 boy was allowed to attend the Year 11 dance. And while both Williams and Supski says they are switching schools so they can attend classes together, the most harrowing part of this is what Schnagl’s decision has done to a 16-year-old queer student: “The situation just make me feel unwelcome there. I didn’t feel comfortable.”

Schools should be actively working toward doing to exact opposite. Especially one that professes to value “cultural diversity.”

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