“Celebrating our Marvellous Alumni” – Balwyn High School

Dear BHS Alumni

Our determination to shine a spotlight on our marvellous alumni throughout 2023 has resulted in your amazing stories that we have shared with the BHS and wider communities.  Thank you for allowing us to do so and thank you for inspiring our students with your careers and achievements.

As a way of recording our stories we have created a Semester One poster which we are sharing to our social media.

It has come up a treat and I wanted you to have a copy.

Thank you again.

Deborah Harman
Principal
Balwyn High School

Balwyn High School’s celebration of IDAHOBIT 2023 recognises Class of ’86 graduate Michael Barnett

Thirty-seven years ago I graduated from Balwyn High School’s Year 12 class of 1986. I left the school with mixed memories.

On the one hand I came away with a fine appreciation for maths and science, made a lifelong friend, and passed my HSC with decent results that got me into college.

On the other hand I had been the victim of homophobic bullying and torment throughout my time there, and suffered greatly as a result of it, and of my fear of being gay. The school had no support for gay students, at least that I was aware of. It was a topic that simply wasn’t spoken about.

I am thrilled beyond belief to find that in 2023 my alma mater not only supports gay students but is committed to providing a safe, nourishing and inclusive space for all LGBTQI+ students.

When invited to submit a contribution for their Lion newsletter on the occasion of receiving my Order of Australia, I had no idea it would be intentionally included to time with IDAHOBIT Day on May 17.

Students at Balwyn High are most fortunate to have a school environment that values diversity, particularly under the leadership of Principal Deborah Harman.

Thank you Balwyn High School.

Our Alumni Spotlights continue – Malcolm Speed AO and Michael Barnett OAM

This week we feature international sporting administrator, Malcolm Speed, who was inducted into the Sport Hall of Achievement in 2012, and Michael Barnett, who was recently awarded an OAM in the New Year’s Honours List. The spotlight on Michael deliberately coincides with this week’s celebrations for IDAHOBIT Day that we marked on Wednesday.

Both Malcolm and Michael are marvellous ambassadors for our school community, and we congratulate them for the impact they have made in their careers. I hope you enjoy reading their stories.

Deborah Harman | Principal

(The Lion – Edition 7 – May 18 2023)

(See pages 2, 6 and 18-19 in this edition of The Lion)

20230518-BHS-The-Lion-Edition-7

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Order of Australia – media coverage

NameMr Michael Nathan BARNETT
AwardMedal of the Order of Australia
Post-NominalOAM
Date Granted26th of January, 2023
StateVIC
SuburbAshwood
Postcode3147
CitationFor service to the LGBTQI community.

January 25 2023

January 26 2023

February 8 2023

March 13 2023

March 25 2023

Macca and Dave are joined live in the studio by Michael Barnett, co-convenor of the Victoria-based LGBTIQ+ Jewish advocacy group Aleph Melbourne, as they discuss his recent Order of Australia Medal.

What do Cardinal George Pell and Rabbi Ronald Lubofsky have in common?

Two distinguished religious leaders who hid the child sexual abuse they perpetrated as they oppressed sexual minorities throughout their lives.

What do Rabbi Emeritus Ronald Lubofsky AM and His Eminence Cardinal George Pell AC have in common?

Both appointed to the Order of Australia.
Both revered in their religious circles.
Both vehemently opposed to homosexuality and sexual immorality.
Both sexually abused / predated on young boys.

Pell pulled out his penis and approached the other boy, grabbing his head.
The complainant asked Pell, “Can you let us go? We didn’t do anything.”
“I could see his [the boy’s] head being lowered towards his [Pell’s] genitalia,” the complainant recalled. “Then he sort of started squirming, he was struggling. His head was being controlled and it was down near archbishop Pell’s genitals. I was no more than a couple of metres away.”
This took place for about a minute or two. Pell stopped and turned to the complainant.
“And then he put his penis into my mouth. Archbishop Pell was standing, he was erect, and he pushed it into my mouth. He instructed me to undo my pants and take off my pants, and I did that. And then he started touching my genitalia. Archbishop Pell was touching himself on his penis with his other hand.”
When it was over the complainant, in shock, pulled up his pants. The boys left the room and tried to rejoin the procession before returning their robes.
About a month later, again after Sunday solemn mass, Pell passed the complainant in a corridor of the church and attacked. He pushed the boy against a wall and forcefully squeezed his genitals through his choir robes.
“Nothing was said,” the complainant said. “It was all within a matter of seconds.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/26/five-times-guilty-how-george-pells-child-abusing-past-caught-up-with-him-in-courtroom-43

The world can now know that a little over 20 years ago, in Pell’s first months as archbishop of Melbourne, this scourge of sex was forcing choirboys to suck his penis.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/26/brutal-and-dogmatic-george-pell-waged-war-on-sex-even-as-he-abused-children

It was alleged by two men in 2012 that the late Rabbi Emeritus Ronald Lubofsky AM of St Kilda Synagogue masturbated in front of them during their bar mitzvah lessons in the 1970s and 1980s.  These men would have been 12 or 13 years old boys at the time.  So far neither of these men have gone public with the details of this sexual abuse.
Members of the board of St Kilda Synagogue were made aware of these allegations at the time they arose.

https://mikeybear.com.au/2018/01/08/rabbi-emeritus-ronald-lubofsky-am-child-sexual-predator