Student Who Called Him A Homophobic Slur Turned Out To Be Gay, Says Hamish Macdonald

Australian broadcast journalist Hamish Macdonald has spoken about his experiences of homophobia from his time as a student at Sydney’s Scots College. The Project host revealed that the first fellow student who tried to bully him by calling him a homophobic slur later turned out to be gay himself. 

The news presenter attended Sydney School, Scots College as a rural boarder from the age of 11 until he graduated from secondary school as a senior, holding various leadership roles including school prefect. 

In an op-ed for Nine Newspapers, Hamish said that he has always abstained from publicly speaking in detail about his experiences at The Scots College because of the array of memories that he’s held, “both good and bad from that time”.

While grateful for the level of education he received during his six-year schooling period, he also hoped for the modernisation and evolution of institutions when it comes to human rights. 

School’s Christian Tradition

Following his former school’s claim to support “every boy at every stage of development to become a confident, well-grounded young man of integrity, who will, in turn, reinvent his world”, Hamish spoke about his difficulty in remaining silent, describing the institution’s, “much mythologised ‘ethos’ and ‘Christian tradition’, as leaving “cryptic descriptions” for “people like me”. 

Hamish reflected on his secondary schooling experience, stating that the first person who “labelled me a ‘poofter’ turned out to be gay himself”.

The journalist added that he was guilty of doing the same to his classmates, adding that he was regretful for joining in on the “taunting of other students suspected of being gay” due to the “strong desire to fit in and be accepted”. 

Christian Schools Want Ban

The Scots College, one of Sydney’s most exclusive private schools, is run by the Presbyterian Church since its inception.

Last week, the Presbyterian Church of Australia in a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission on the Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws, argued for a ban on students in same-sex relationships or engaging in pre-marital sex from holding leadership positions in Christian schools. 

The Presbyterian Church runs more than 20 schools across the country including Presbyterian Ladies’ College (Sydney), Brisbane Boys’ College, St Andrews Christian College (Melbourne) and Sunshine Coast Grammar School. 

In its submission, the Church said, “They [LGBTQI+ students] would not be able to give appropriate Christian leadership in a Christian school which requires modelling Christian living”. 

Proposed changes by the ALRC would see the removal of special exemptions for religious schools and a ban on sacking teachers or expelling students for being LGBTQI. 

‘Say It’s Ok To Be Gay’

Hamish criticised the Scots College management, especially the school’s principal Dr Lambert, who circulated an email that asserted there was currently no explicit ban on gay students being school leaders and that the school “determines our own policies and procedures”. 

The journalist denounced the College and their claim that this was “not an attempt to distance the College from the Church”, adding the caveat: “Make no mistake: The Scots College is governed by a council, filled with churchmen, elected by the Presbyterian Church”. 

“The Presbyterian Church wants the right to discriminate. If it does not support this, Scots College has an opportunity here to demonstrate exactly what it means by its values and ethos. It can say plainly and simply: it’s OK to be gay here,” Hamish wrote.