The Human Rights Commission is urging students who face discrimination at school to lodge a complaint as "students have the right to be free from discrimination".
It comes as the New Zealand Herald reported the Christian school Bethlehem College was labelled "discriminatory" after the school's Statement of Belief required students and parents to sign the document outlining marriage is only for "one man and one woman".
Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt has had enough of the recent discrimination against Aotearoa's LGBTIQ+ community.
"It is extremely disappointing to hear of the many ways in which our LGBTIQ+ whānau have been impacted recently," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hunt said students, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, have the right to be free from discrimination while at school.
And now Hunt wants those who face discrimination to report it to the Commission.
"Students and their whānau who believe they have been discriminated against at school may contact the Human Rights Commission for information or to lodge a complaint."
He said the Commission can provide dispute resolution services, like mediation to resolve complaints.
"The Human Rights Commission broadly supports a school’s right to maintain and express its religious beliefs and special character, however, we would be concerned if any actions by a school had an exclusionary effect on parents and children because of their ideological views about marriage or gender," Hunt added.
