IMAGES: Blake Skjellerup & Seb Stewart at Newlands College

IMAGES: Blake Skjellerup & Seb Stewart at Newlands College

Newlands College was the first stop on Blake and Seb’s anti-bullying tour here in Wellington. I got the opportunity to meet them and some of the faculty at the assembly. Seb is charming and quick to give a hug, and Blake is sweet and unassuming for someone with his level of fame.

Newlands is notable in being the first school they’ve encountered so far with openly gay staff members, some of them student favorites (they were even wearing purple for the occasion). One might assume such a progressive school wouldn’t need a queer-straight alliance, but such an organization could still be helpful to kids who have to confront homophobia and intolerance from family at home.

Blake first handed out achievement awards to two students, and then addressed the audience about his life as an Olympic athlete, eventually segueing to the subject of bullying in schools. His voice tightened as he spoke about how isolated and depressed he felt as a closeted teen, and how even though he had support from loved ones so many other children are not as fortunate. The universality of his experience and the perfect earnestness of his words made a powerful and affecting speech.

Seb followed Blake with a few words about a recent event at another Wellington school that saw a same-sex couple banned from attending a ball, and on how student-run queer/straight alliances are effective at reducing homophobic bullying and encouraging acceptance between peers. They have the added benefit of giving young people a sense of responsibility during a time of life they may not feel they have much power to change the world. The talk ended with much applause, some informational flyers handed out, and a few students wanting their pictures taken with Blake.

Follow blakeskjellerup on YouTube for video-blogs of Blake and Seb’s Excellent Adventure!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 17th, 2011 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Hunks, Politics & Activism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.