Lesbians on the loose

Call Number
Nq 306.7663099441 LES
Created/Published
Newtown [N.S.W.] : Lesbians on the loose, 1990-
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 5 (May 1992)
Images
28
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Text

LESBIANS ON THE LOOSE  

MAY 1992 ISSUE 29  

VOL. NO.  

FREE  

PUSHED TO  

THE LIMIT  

BY DEBBIE ZWOLSMAN  

The Gay and Lesbian Teachers  

and Students Association,  

GALT AS, has stepped up its  

campaign to have the problem of  

homophobia dealt with in NSW schools.  

An anti-violence kit is now in the hands of  

the NSW Department of School Education,  

but to date it has only been available to  

schools where the Department deems it  

necessary. One of these schools is  

Cleveland Street High School, which was  

the scene of gay staff member's death, as  

well as the jailing of students for another  

gay murder.  

GALT AS has renewed calls on the NSW  

Minister for Education, Mrs Virginia  

Chadwick, to make homophobia studies  

and use of the anti-violence kit,  

compulsory part of the new personal  

development curriculum.  

spokesperson for the Department,  

Eleanor Davidson, has said that the kit  

will not be made compulsory, as there are  

schools that may not support it.  

Co-convenor of ALTAS, Jacqui Griffin,  

is currently undertaking to launch the  

School Watch Report, which has been  

modelled on the 1990 StreetWatchßeport  

by the NSW Police Minister, The Hon. Mr  

Ted Pickering.  

In an interview on radio station 2UE last  

month, Eleanor Davidson encouraged us  

to believe that the recent incidents  

affecting lesbian and gay students were  

isolated. She also claimed that  

homophobia is generally not problem in  

NSW schools, during an interview on  

2SER.  

Jacqui Griffin is hoping that the  

School Watch Report will put pressure on  

the government to acknowledge that  

Media reports of harassment are not  

isolated incidents, but are in fact  

commonplace in NSW schools.  

GALT AS met with Virginia Chadwick  

last month to discuss options for the  

harassed or assaulted students, several of  

whom are considering leaving school. Mrs  

Chadwick's suggestions for the students  

included being transferred to other schools  

or resuming studies at their old schools.  

There was no mention of transferring the  

perpetrators of the harassment to other  

schools.  

GALT AS is currently investigating the  

TAFEHSC correspondence course for one  

lesbian student; another is making  

enquiries for herself.  

Kathryn, 15-year-old student who has  

recently left the educationsystem, is living  

in refuge in Sydney.  

She was thrown out of home by her  

parents, for being lesbian and has been  

removed from, or harassed out of schools,  

because of her sexuality.  

The HSC course at TAFE is an alternative  

Kathryn is considering, as the school  

education system obviously cannot meet  

her needs.  

Kathryn looks forward to her AUSTUDY  

payment, paltry sum of $lOO per week,  

on which she lives. It seems that young  

lesbians such as Kathryn are forced to rely  

on refuges for their accommodation until  

they leave school, unable to afford  

alternative housing.  

She is hoping to get into the 20/10 refuge  

soon, as she has been harassed in other  

refuges and has been asked to leave others  

because of her lesbianism.  

Organisations such as GALT AS and  

Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays,  

PFLAG, are often the only support for  

lesbian and gay students in these  

predicaments.  

Heather Horntvedt, parent convenor of  

PFLAG, says "schools are our only hope  

in breaking the cycle of myths and  

stereotypes that have plagued gays and  

lesbians from the year dot".  

It is with this in mind that the need for  

homophobia studies and tools such as the  

anti-violence kit, should be priority in  

the school education system, to combat  

violence and prejudice.  

"To go any further we need documented  

evidence, or rather statistics, so that the  

Education Department can't ignore us,"  

Jacqui Griffin said.  

"GALTAS has given Virginia Chadwick  

research articles about the emotional  

needs of lesbian and gay youth. So now  

they've got all that information, and the  

strategies of how to solve the problem,  

they can't plead ignorance. We need that  

documentation (the School Watch Report)  

to go further."  

To report threatsofviolence or physical assault,  

you can contact GALT AS by calling Jacqui  

Grijfin on 560 1318.  

Opening Night at Female Trouble  

Photo: Dianne Fairweathe  

inside ...  

leso law...diesels and lipstick...gillian hanscombe...  

Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NBQ 4194  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-884067433

APA citation

(1990). Lesbians on the loose Retrieved May 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-884067433

MLA citation

Lesbians on the loose Newtown [N.S.W.]: Lesbians on the loose, 1990. Web. 16 May 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-884067433>

Harvard/Australian citation

1990, Lesbians on the loose Lesbians on the loose, Newtown [N.S.W.] viewed 16 May 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-884067433

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  |
  | title=Lesbians on the loose.
  | year=1990
  | issn=1324-6542
  | issue=Vol. 3 No. 5 (May 1992)
  | location=Newtown [N.S.W.]
  | publisher=Lesbians on the loose
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-884067433
  | id=nla.obj-884067433
  | access-date=16 May 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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