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Part of Normal
Saturday February 4th, 2012
February 2, 2012
Charles Hamilton
Editorial
Dylan Rose was riding his bike home from a bar one night when someone driving a pickup truck, honking the horn and yelling out the window, ran him off the road. The attack, he says, probably had to do with the way he was dressed — it was summer and he was wearing short shorts and a see-through tank top. Rose ended up with a few bumps and bruises and was on painkillers for a month. But the emotional scars endured. It was the first time the 24-year-old was the target of homophobic violence. But it wasn’t the first time he was the victim of unwarranted prejudice.
Rose is aboriginal and gay. He’s spent his life wading through multiple layers of discrimination and stigma. Growing up all over Saskatchewan, in places like in Cumberland House, Sandy Lake and North Battleford, he experienced what he calls the double whammy of racism and homophobia.
“There was lot of racism, for sure,” he says. “On top of that, I was always like, ‘Oh man, I’m gay too. I’m never coming out.’ It was tough.”
But Rose, who plans on starting law school at the University of Saskatchewan in the fall, did eventually come out of the closet. It was Jan. 26, 2006, after he moved to Saskatoon for university. Since then, he has embraced the term queer. Once used as an anti-gay epithet, it now refers largely to sexual minorities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people. But there is another term he’s embraced as well — these days he calls himself two-spirited.
Since its inception in the early 1990s, the term two-spirit has become a rallying cry for gay, LGBT aboriginal people all over the world. Two-spirited is used to identify people who are both queer and aboriginal. But, as Rose and countless other queer aboriginal people have found out, the term is more complicated than that.
Like so many young queer youth, Rose made the exodus from rural life to the big city with hopes of finding kinship — queer friends, queer-friendly bars and queer support groups.
In the weeks, months and years after he came out, Rose struggled to find that community. Although things got better once he moved to Saskatoon from North Battleford, he spent years in counselling, dealing with mental health issues related to his racial and sexual identity.
It wasn’t so much that he couldn’t find like-minded people, but he grappled with his identity, trying to find an intersection between his life as a queer person and life as an aboriginal person.
“I hung out at the Pride Centre and I also hung out at the Aboriginal Students Centre, but there was no other people who hung out at those places and found community in both those places. I felt like I was one of the only queer aboriginals on campus. It made me feel more alone in some ways,” he says.
Rose’s father is from the Red Pheasant First Nation, and his mother had friends on reserves all over the province. When he wasn’t in school, he would travel around to powwows and spend summers on different reserves. Sexuality and gender were not common topics on the reserve.
“There were like two gay people on the reserve,” Rose says. “There was this guy on the reserve and his name was Burt and everyone jokingly called him, auntie Burt so I knew he was gay.”
When Rose came out, he got a diverse reaction from family and friends living on the reserve. Some embraced his difference, while others scorned it.
“It’s a mix. You have those people who are practicing a more traditional way of life and they are more open-minded to the way people are living their lives — as long as they aren’t harming anyone, they will treat them as moral human beings,” he says.
“But there is that Christian side that sees me as a sinner, and think I’m going to hell.”
It was during this time that Rose heard the term “two-spirited.” It was first used in 1990, at a Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference in Winnipeg. The idea was to encompass the spiritual, not simply the physical and the sexual when talking about queer aboriginal people. In literal terms, people might think of it as having both male and female spirits. But these days, that interpretation has largely been dismissed as homophobic.
“It doesn’t literally mean you have two spirits. In order for me to be a lesbian, it doesn’t mean I have to be part man,” says University of Saskatchewan professor Alex Wilson, an educator and one of the world’s foremost experts on aboriginal queer culture and two-spiritedness.
Wilson has been studying what it means to be queer and aboriginal for more than two decades — she began before the word two-spirited became commonplace. During her first few years of university, she was working as a queer youth group facilitator. It was there she finally understood the gravity of situation facing young queer aboriginal people.
“I went home for the summer and when I came back in the fall, the two Native kids in the group had committed suicide. I was like, ‘What is going on?’”
In Canada, LGBT aboriginal youth have some of the highest suicide rates in the country. They represent two of the most at-risk groups. According to Health Canada, suicide rates are five to seven times higher in First Nations communities than in the rest of Canada and LGBT youth are also at a much higher risk of attempting suicide than heterosexual youth.
“With aboriginal gay youth, it’s way higher. It’s off the charts,” says Wilson.
Wilson is quick to point out that “oppression is not a competition,” but there are certain realities that come with being two-spirited or queer and aboriginal that set them apart from the rest of the queer community. The suicide rate is just one of them.
Wilson grew up on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and that was where she first came out to her family and friends as a lesbian. She says no one was surprised when she told them she liked women, not men. Her story is similar to many others that have been shared by young queer aboriginal people: being gay on reserve was not that big a deal.
“When I ask the elders, they say we don’t have a subculture; we don’t have a word for (being queer) because it is part of normal,” says Wilson.
That is likely why the term two-spirited is so new — before contact, it is widely believed, queer people were just a regular part of life for many aboriginal nations.
Wilson is hesitant to embrace all the stories that have come out about the reverence her people had for two-spirited people before contact. Her research has found that before contact there were people who did not fit into Western gender binaries — men who didn’t fit into traditional male roles, and women who didn’t fit into traditional female roles. If these people were not revered, they were, she says, simply commonplace.
“Every nation that I know of — that I’ve talked to people from — have had people who don’t fit this western gender binary. Whether they are gay or not, we don’t know,” she says.
Wilson, like many other two-spirit scholars, believes homophobia was a western import, hammered home by the trauma of colonization and the residential school system. This western way of thinking, she says, still permeates aboriginal traditions and spirituality, on and off reserve.
“They still have that Christian mindset, meaning they are very dogmatic in their religion,” Wilson explains.
“Research has shown that the risk factor for all queer youth is fundamentalist religion. We know a lot about that in terms of Christianity and Islam and other organized religions, but it also holds for traditional aboriginal religion. The very place where we should be gaining strength and grounding for many gay youth has become marginalizing.”
But Wilson’s attention is directed not only at aboriginal peoples, their traditional religions and their leadership. She would like to see more acceptance of two-spirited and aboriginal queer people with the larger mainstream queer community.
When she first moved to Winnipeg and entered the queer community there she was surprised by the amount of racism that persisted, even in some of the most progressive sections of society. Rose says he’s had similar experiences after moving to Saskatoon.
“You’d think that within this urban queer community there would be more acceptance, but there is serious racism going on,” he says.
“Sometimes you create this kind of animosity yourself but sometimes it’s totally out there, it exists.”
Rose calls Wilson one of his mentors, and he says had he not learned about aboriginal history and traditions relating to queerness and two-spiritedness, he would not have come this far.
“I don’t think I would have found myself, found my identity,” he says.
These days, Rose blogs about his two-spirited experiences. The blog, Urban Pionqueer, is a mixture of humour, personal essays and reflections about his life as a “20-something, gay, aboriginal.” He says he is doing it for the youth, the young aboriginal queer people who are going through the same struggles he did when he was younger.
“I remember thinking, why am I here? Why do I have to deal with so much that the average person doesn’t have to deal with? People just didn’t get it,” he says. “I wanted my story out there so people could benefit from it.”
Discriminatory laws and policies harm children of LGBT parents, new study finds
Wednesday February 1st, 2012
31 January 2012 San Diego Gay & Lesbian NewsWASHINGTON -- The latest in a series of groundbreaking reports shows
how children are suffering because of laws and policies intended to hurt
LGBT Americans.
Strengthening Economic Security for Children Living in LGBT Families
describes how antiquated and discriminatory laws increase poverty for
children with LGBT parents, and can be especially harmful for children
living in low-income households.
The study is the latest in a series of reports co-authored by
Movement Advancement Project (MAP), the Family Equality Council and the
Center for American Progress, in partnership with the National
Association of Social Workers.
It is a companion report to All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families,
which paints one of the most comprehensive portraits to date of LGBT
families in America and how outdated laws make it harder for children
with LGBT parents to achieve three major needs: economic security;
stable, loving homes; and health and well-being.
America's families are changing
"Our laws and economic policies need to reflect the reality of
today's families -- especially those families led by parents who are
lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," said Jennifer Chrisler,
executive director of the Family Equality Council. "Overall, LGBT
families are twice as likely to be living in poverty as married,
opposite-sex couples."
Current trends also show the following:
- Approximately 2 million children are being raised by LGBT parents.
- Children of same-sex couples live in 96% of U.S. counties.
- Gay and lesbian couples are most likely to raise children in the
South, with the highest percentage of families in Mississippi, followed
by
Wyoming, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama, Montana, South Dakota, and South Carolina.
- LGBT families are more racially and ethnically diverse than the
population as a whole, and same-sex couples of color raising children
are more likely to be poor than white same-sex couples raising children.
Extra social and economic costs for LGBT families
The new report illustrates how LGBT families face economic burdens that most families do not.
"Public policy should be based on reality. Our nation's reality is
that gay and transgender people are forming families and raising kids.
It's time for our laws to reflect this fact and make sure LGBT families
do not face unnecessary obstacles to achieving their economic security,"
said Jeff Krehely, director of the LGBT Communications and Research
Project at the Center for American Progress.
Some of the most common extra economic burdens faced by LGBT families include:
- Lack of legal protections. Because same-sex couples cannot marry,
children in LGBT families often have legal ties to only one parent.
Although legal documents can help create some protections, they are
costly and usually inadequate.
- Higher taxes. LGBT families cannot file joint federal tax returns
and are often denied child-related tax deductions and credits. As a
result, many LGBT families pay higher taxes.
- Reduced access to health benefits. Because employers are not
required to extend coverage to children without legal ties to their
parents, LGBT families may be forced to buy coverage privately for their
children or go without.
- Lack of access to safety net programs. Programs designed to support
families during difficult economic times often treat LGBT families
inconsistently or exclude them completely. As a result, children fall
through the safety net when they most need help, including when a parent
dies or becomes disabled.
Providing economic security for all children
"This report again clearly details how children have become
unintended collateral damage of anti-gay policies," said Ineke Mushovic,
executive director of the Movement Advancement Project. "There is a lot
that can be done to ensure all children are treated equally under the
law."
The new report details several policy recommendations that would help
reduce the extra financial burdens faced by LGBT families, including:
- Strengthening the legal ties of the entire family by legalizing and federally recognizing same-sex marriage.
- Allowing joint adoption by LGBT parents, and recognizing LGBT
parents and recognizing LGBT parents through other avenues such as
second-parent adoption and de facto parenting that allow children to
gain full legal ties to their parents.
- Revising the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax code to provide equitable treatment for LGBT families.
- Ensuring equal access to health insurance and health care.
- Modernizing archaic wrongful death and intestacy statutes.
The report also supplements the 100+ policy recommendations included
in "All Children Matter" with 20 practical "in the field" steps that
governmental agencies, community-based organizations, advocates and
funders can take to assist and support all LGBT families, including
those in crisis, low-income LGBT families, and LGBT families living in
poverty. These steps include:
- Expanding outreach to, and documenting the unmet needs of,
low-income LGBT families, LGBT families of color and LGBT families
living in rural communities.
- Expanding training to organizations serving low-income LGBT
families, including adoption agencies, child welfare and government
agency workers, judges and schools.
- Creating guidebooks to help LGBT families navigate the economic
hurdles they face and, if needed, help them access safety net programs.
For a complete list of recommendations, download the report at HERE.
About the Movement Advancement Project
Founded in 2006, the Movement Advancement Project is an independent think tank that provides rigorous research, insight and analysis that help speed equality for LGBT people.
About Family Equality Council
Family Equality Council
is America's foremost advocate for LGBT family equality. It represents 1
million LGBT families raising 2 million children in the United States
and are working to ensure full social and legal equality for LGBT
families.
About Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress
is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to
promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for
all. It believes that Americans are bound together by a common
commitment to these values and aspires to ensure that our national
policies reflect these values. The center works to find progressive and
pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems
and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is "of the
people, by the people, and for the people."
Catholic schools fail to support gay students with their new club policy.
Wednesday February 1st, 2012
31 January 2012 The Toronto StarOnly a bunch of bishops more comfortable debating the finer points of
church doctrine than the needs of teenagers would think that gay
students will want to hang out in a “respecting differences club.” It
doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
But the clunky name is the least of
the problems with the new policy surrounding anti-homophobia clubs in
Ontario’s Catholic schools. Much more serious is what the clubs are
allowed to do. Or, really, what they’re not allowed to do, which is just
about everything.
These clubs are not to be “fora for
activism, protest or advocacy of anything that is not in accord with the
Catholic faith,” states a document from the Ontario Catholic School
Trustees’ Association. (The church catechism, referred to in the
document, deems homosexual acts to be “intrinsically disordered” and
“contrary to natural law.”) It’s hard to see how a club bound by such
restrictions could ever offer much support or comfort to gay students,
let alone tackle bullying and discrimination in school hallways.
Also off-limits are “issues of gender
identity” and “sexual attraction.” These are “inappropriate issues for
open forum discussion.” So, then, how exactly would a club meeting go?
Hi, I’ve joined this club because, well, actually, I’m not allowed to
say.
Perhaps this makes sense to a group
turning themselves into knots trying to appear accepting and supportive
of gay students when, in fact, they’re not. It certainly doesn’t make
sense to anyone else.
As part of its anti-bullying
legislation, the government has told publicly funded Catholic boards
that they must allow anti-homophobia clubs in their schools. But in an
attempt to give them a way out of the controversy over gay-straight
alliance clubs, the province was not too specific on the details. “I
fully expect that Catholic teachers are going to use the word ‘gay,’ and
as a Catholic premier of Ontario I’m going to be talking about gay
kids,” Premier Dalton McGuinty said when his government introduced the
legislation.
Unfortunately, it appears his faith
in Catholic educators was misplaced. In their document—which wouldn’t
exist if it weren’t for gay students who are being bullied in schools,
sometimes to the point of suicide—they can’t even bring themselves to
use the word “gay.”
Instead, these teenagers are called
individuals “dealing with same sex attraction or issues of gender
identity.” Gay students need true acceptance and support, not language
that suggests this is a phase they’ll outgrow. This policy on
“respecting difference” clubs is another example of Catholic bishops and
trustees claiming to be generally onside with the wishes of their
students and education ministry edicts while underming them on
specifics.
By coming up with a policy that
undermines the very purpose of an anti-homophobia club, Catholic
educators have repaid the government’s flexibility on clubs names very
poorly. So poorly that it’s hard to see how Education Minister Laurel
Broten can let this policy stand unchallenged.
$90K for gay-straight alliances in schools, says Jackman
Tuesday January 31st, 2012
January 24, 2012
Tens of thousands of dollars will be spent to make schools across Newfoundland and Labrador more welcoming to gay students, according to the province's education minister.
“We know that many young people struggle with issues around sexual orientation – often with hurtful, or even tragic, consequences,” said Minister Clyde Jackman in a news release.
“This cannot continue within a school system, and a society, which claims to celebrate diversity and to respect the value of every individual. This resource will help us take an important step forward in recognizing that we all have a responsibility for ensuring that all of our students are accepted, and respected, for who they are.”
The province says $90,000 will be provided as support for administrators, teachers, and students who wish to establish gay-straight alliances in their schools.
“The resource, entitled MyGSA (or My Gay-Straight Alliance), will be provided this spring to all Newfoundland and Labrador schools offering Grades 7-12,” said the news release.
The MyGSA resource is funded through the provincial government's Violence Prevention Initiative ($50,000) and the Department of Education ($40,000), and developed in partnership with the Women's Policy Office and Egale Canada — the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-human rights organization.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s version of MyGSA is modelled after a similar resource currently available in some Ontario schools, according to the government’s news release.
For more, please see CBC.ca!
German trans girl ‘to be institutionalised’
Tuesday January 31st, 2012
Jane Fae 31 January 2012 Pinknews.co.ukNews that an 11 year old trans girl in Berlin, Germany, is about to
be committed to a mental institution by local authorities – following
intervention by her absent father – has prompted grave concern by the
International LGBTQ Youth and Student Organisation (IGLYO).
A petition has also been started on change.org.
According to a statement released by IGLYO yesterday, the girl,
elsewhere identified only as “Alex” (Alexandra) lives with her mother,
who supports her gender expression. However, the girl’s father, divorced
and separated from her mother, strongly rejects this view of his
daughter’s gender identity and wants to force her to grow up as a boy.
If all else fails, there is a real and present possibility that
pressure from her father, supported by the Youth Welfare Office in
Berlin, means that Alex will shortly be confined in a closed ward of a
psychiatric institution to ensure that “he” returns to “normality”.
This is despite the fact that Alex claims, in an interview published earlier this month in online lifestyle magazine taz.de,
that she has identified as female for as long as she can remember. She
is accepted as female at school, and has been registered as such from
her earliest days there.
This led to conflict with her father, who insisted on calling her
“Alexander” and forcing her to wear boy’s clothes. When Alex reacted
negatively, he accused her of being badly behaved. Her parents split
over the matter of Alex’s gender.
Now, with puberty fast approaching – and Alex claiming she would
rather die than go through the changes it is likely to bring about – her
father has besieged the Youth Office with written submissions.
His motives are unclear: what is clear is that the child has not been
examined by independent experts – but a new member of staff in the
Berlin Youth Office believes him and claims that the correct response to
Alex’s suicide threats if she does not receive treatment for gender
dysphoria is for her to be committed to a mental institution.
Alex should be encouraged to identify with male role models and to
follow male pursuits: female preferences would be discouraged.
Thereafter, according to a proposal that has shocked Professor Udo
Rauchfleisch, a recognized expert in the care and treatment of
transsexuality with the University of Basel, she should be separated
from her mother and placed with foster parents.
There are clear similarities between this and approaches adopted by
John Money in respect of David Reimer and David Rekers with Kirk
Murphy: both cases ended badly with the subsequent suicide of the
individuals – Reimer and Murphy – who were the target of this reparative
therapy.
This is echoed by a statement from IGLYO. They write: “The board of
IGLYO strongly advocates the rights of transgender youth and are
concerned with the institutionalization of this happy and healthy child.
We would like to highlight the endangerment of forced “therapy” to make
children fit into the gender roles the society thinks are right for
them. IGLYO follows the wealth of research that shows that reparative
therapy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity can be seriously
harmful to the child.
“The Board of IGLYO declares our solidarity with the girl and her
mother. Moreover, we ask the authorities of Berlin to intervene with the
actions of the Youth Welfare Office and stop the removal of the child
from her mother. We find it extremely irresponsible and unacceptable to
remove any child from a loving and supportive home without thorough
research and consultation with experts.
“In line with international human rights standards, IGLYO advocates
for the best interests of the child. The institutionalization of this
child violates many human rights instruments, including the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
and the European Convention on Human Rights.”
The case is now being referred upward to Germany’s supreme court.
Canadian Celebrities, Sports and Media Join CKNW's Pink Shirt Day
Tuesday January 31st, 2012
30 January 2012 Marketwire.comCKNW to Dedicate One Month of Editorial Coverage to Anti-Bullying Campaign
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 30, 2012) - Every seven seconds in Canada, a child is bullied. This alarming statistic fuels the passion behind CKNW's 5th annual anti-bullying campaign Pink Shirt Day - Bullying Stops Here!
On Wednesday, February 29th, 2012, CKNW are encouraging British
Columbian's to show their support by wearing pink to symbolize bullying
will not be tolerated.
Simi Sara, popular radio host on CKNW AM 980 will champion
this year's campaign and will be joined by an all-star cast from the
community including E-Talk Canada's Elaine Lui "Lainey", City of Surrey
Mayor Dianne Watts, Vancouver Giants Captain Brendan Gallagher, Chris
Gailus (Global TV), Fiona Forbes (Shaw TV), Gary Mason (Globe &
Mail), Jody Vance (City TV) and Norma Reid (CTV) to help spread
awareness and education to ensure that bullying stops here.
Official Pink Shirt Day T-Shirts, buttons, teaching resources, and posters are available at www.pinkshirtday.ca with T-Shirts also being sold at London Drugs locations beginning February 1st.
Over the month of February, Simi Sara and CKNW AM 980 will be
dedicating extensive coverage to the anti-bullying campaign. On air
guests will discuss the multiple forms bullying can take including in
schools, workplaces and cyber-bulling. "There is not more of a critical
time than now to educate and arm children and adults with tools they
need to stop bullying", stated Sara who referenced the increased cases
of bullying we are seeing across the news, in particular in the gay and
lesbian communities.
The goal for this years' campaign is to sell 60,000 Pink
Shirt Day T-Shirts, which net proceeds will benefit the CKNW Orphans'
Fund in support of Boys & Girls Clubs of BC Anti-Bullying programs.
For updates on CKNW's Pink Shirt Day please visit www.pinkshirtday.ca, on Twitter @pinkshirtday, and on Facebook.
The public service announcement for Pink Shirt Day 2012 can be viewed here.
About Pink Shirt Day: In 2007, two Nova
Scotia students decided to take action after witnessing a younger
student being bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school. The students
bought 50 pink t-shirts and encouraged schoolmates to wear them and send
a powerful message of solidarity to the bully. CKNW were inspired by
the story and to date have raised more than $300,000 for Boys &
Girls Clubs anti-bullying programs with the sales of Pink Shirt Day
T-Shirts.
About CKNW Orphans' Fund: Dedicated to
enhancing the lives of children with social, physical and mental
challenges living in BC communities. We provide funding to both
individual children and organizations for a variety of developmental
needs, with an emphasis on therapies, educational bursaries and
specialized medical equipment.
About Boys & Girls Clubs: For over 75
years, Boys and Girls Clubs of South Coast BC (BGC) has been giving
children and youth something that every child deserves to have: a place
to belong when they aren't at home or at school. It's a place that
provides them with three of the things they need most: a sense of
belonging, a sense of success, and positive relationships with adults
and peers. Annually, we serve more than 10,000 children, youth, and
families.
Catholic trustees snub Dalton McGuinty on gay-straight alliances
Tuesday January 31st, 2012
Martin Cohn 30 January 2012 The Toronto StarFor his fearless campaign against bullying, Dalton McGuinty gets a
gold star for effort. But the Premier’s final mark depends on how he
handles his next test, coming soon to a school near you.
In today’s Ontario, generic anti-bullying clubs are political
motherhood. The real flashpoint is anti-homophobia clubs, where high
school students can show solidarity with gay classmates.
That’s why the Liberal government is pressing ahead with legislation
forcing publicly-funded schools to approve “gay-straight alliances” —
although, mindful of Catholic sensitivities, alternative names were left
open to negotiation.
By taking a flexible approach to a volatile issue that blends
sexuality with constitutionality (no, we haven’t been able to wish away
Separate School boards since 1867), McGuinty did the right thing. But he placed the onus on Catholic educators to respond in the right way.
Now, the other shoe has dropped. And the Premier is being wrong-footed by Catholic educators who are kicking sand in his face.
Their written response
blends bullying with bombast. In 12 tortuous pages, the Ontario
Catholic School Trustees’ Association mouths all the right platitudes
about our common humanity and spirituality, without dignifying gays by
ever actually calling them “gay.”
If Catholic trustees can’t bring themselves to use the word “gay” —
ever — it’s no surprise that they won’t agree to gay-straight alliances.
I just expected a little more charity and clarity amidst the verbosity
and obstinacy of their latest diktat.
No use of the word “gay.” No use of the apparently loaded word
“rainbow” — banned by some schools last year — lest trustees open their
minds to the full spectrum of light.
The Catholic trustees want any new clubs to be called “Respecting
Difference” groups. Which strikes many school kids as underscoring their
differences — and thus undermining their commonality and solidarity.
And the trustees are blatantly ignoring the letter and spirit of the
legislation. It hasn’t escaped notice at Queen’s Park that their
document is a declaration of defiance against the single-issue clubs mandated by McGuinty. You can’t skirt an anti-homophobia club by creating an anti-bullying club as a catch-all.
Catholic trustees are missing the forest for the trees — and worrying
whether they are growing straight or warped. Yet the church has a
history of living with two seemingly opposed ideas at the same time: It
preaches abstinence until marriage, while Separate School boards provide
sex education for high school kids — not just because it’s the law of
the land, but the reality we live in (teenage pregnancies, convents and
orphanages no longer being the preferred outcomes for sexual sinners).
So if the church can countenance sex education, why obsess about a
few gay-straight alliance clubs (which don’t confer the seal of approval
on gay sex)?
Now, using the language of a witch hunt, the trustees warn that
“activism” or “advocacy” of “anything that is not in accord with the
Catholic faith foundation of the school” is banned. What a way to
intimidate school kids for daring to show solidarity against bullies: No
activism that strays from catechism.
Oh, and no discussion of personal “gender identity.” So if you’ve
already come out of the closet, you’ll have to go back in during lunch
hour club meetings. Or perhaps put that lunch bag over your head?
Fearing Sodom and Gomorrah in the blessed province of Ontario,
Catholic trustees are making a spectacle of themselves. By turning the
spotlight onto these small, localized solidarity clubs for well-meaning
school kids, they are resurrecting a latter-day version of the
Inquisition, where those who challenged the doctrine of the faith were,
um, bullied into submission.
Rather than seek an enlightened, Jesuitical resolution, the trustees
are tying themselves in theological knots. And placing themselves on a
collision course with the province’s self-declared anti-bullying Premier
— only the second Catholic ever elected to the position.
College asked to investigate Catholic principal who banned gay-straight alliance
Monday January 30th, 2012
Kristin Rushowy 29 January 2012 The Toronto StarOntario’s College of Teachers has been asked to investigate a
Catholic principal for professional misconduct after students were
banned from starting a gay-straight alliance at their Mississauga high
school.
In a formal complaint, teacher Thomas McCue asks that the college
look at the alleged “actions or inactions” of Frances Jacques, principal
of St. Joseph Catholic high school last year, that could have “put
certain groups at increased risk, which is contrary to the code of
conduct of members.”
McCue is referring to a group of students led by Leanne Iskander, who
asked to form a gay-straight alliance but were turned down. They said
the principal instead offered talks with the school’s chaplain or that
they join other groups already running at the school.
Even though gay-straight alliances are common in public schools,
Catholic boards have not allowed them, given the Vatican’s stance
against homosexuality.
Although McCue has named Jacques in the complaint — because she was
the front-line official involved — the complaint could have much wider
implications for the Catholic system’s approach to such clubs.
As McCue followed media reports on the St. Joseph’s incident, “it all
seemed unreal to me,” he said in a telephone interview from the
Montreal area, where he now lives with his same-sex partner.
“When I shared it with the staff (at his current school), they thought Ontario was living in the 1960s.”
(The St. Joseph’s teens eventually started a club called “Open Arms,”
after Ontario’s Catholic bishops and school trustees bowed to public
pressure and allowed groups to address bullying based on sexual
orientation.)
Jacques retired at the end of the 2010-11 school year as planned but is still a member of the teachers’ college.
McCue’s complaint also asks the college to examine if Jacques failed
to maintain the standards of the profession, because without a
gay-straight alliance support group “to address issues of bullying, some
students may feel that their emotional well-being was being
compromised.”
“In any case, given the recent suicide at an Ottawa Carleton District
(board) school as well as a spate of other horrible incidents around
North America, it is time that this issue be taken seriously,” he wrote
in his complaint.
“There is a book and video entitled It gets Better. The
understanding is that once a (gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender)
student makes it to adulthood, life gets better. This is all fine and
good, but it needs to get better now, not in four years.”
The complaint, sent to the college last November, includes several
studies showing the importance of safe, supportive social environments
for gay and lesbian teens.
“The studies clearly indicate that a ‘diversity club’ is insufficient
to properly address the unique issues facing gay and lesbian youth,”
McCue wrote.
The college has 120 days to investigate and determine whether to proceed to a disciplinary hearing.
“Our legislation prohibits us from talking about a matter until it
reaches the stage of a formal hearing,” said Brian Jamieson of the
Ontario College of Teachers. “I cannot confirm or deny whether a
complaint has been registered, and we are not allowed to discuss matters
under investigation.”
Bruce Campbell, of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board,
said no one at the board was aware of the case and that, regardless, he
could not respond “due to the personnel-related nature of such a
complaint.”
He contacted Jacques twice on the Star’s behalf; she said
she had not been contacted by the college. “She has not been advised of
this and did not wish to comment on it,” Campbell also said.
McCue taught in Ottawa public schools before moving to Montreal in 2007. He grew up in Barrie.
“I kind of felt sick to my stomach” after reading that St. Joseph
students had been denied, especially after they were brave enough to ask
for — and then publicly fight for — a gay-straight alliance at such a
young age, he said.
“It’s clear in Ontario College of Teacher regulations that you can’t put students at increased risk,” said McCue, 41.
The question is if this is “conduct unbecoming a member,” he added. “Would most members consider this not to be proper?”
Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, director of the equality program at the Canadian
Civil Liberties Association, said her organization has not taken a
position on the case because it is not familiar with the college’s
disciplinary process.
However, she said she will follow its progress.
“It is one of the many ways people are expressing their concern with
the fact that students were not provided with the supports they need,”
she said.
“It’s a very interesting take (on the issue).”
The incident at St. Joseph’s highlighted the difficulty facing
Catholic schools as the province looked at ways to fight homophobia,
something students — in both Catholic and public schools — have said
they want.
Since then, the Ontario government has directed schools to allow
anti-homophobia clubs if students demand them, although the word “gay”
does not have to be in their title.
Just last week, Catholic educators suggested calling such groups
“Respecting Difference,” but said the groups could not be activist,
protest or discuss sexual attraction or gender identity.
Human rights commission won’t consider Morinville school complaint
Monday January 30th, 2012
Andrea Sands 27 January 2012 Edmonton JournalEDMONTON - The Alberta Human Rights Commission has refused to deal
with two complaints filed by parents who are fighting for a
non-religious schooling option in Morinville. Donna Hunter and
Marjorie Kirsop received letters from the commission Thursday telling
them to take their complaints to “another forum” such as the province’s
School Act. However, Hunter and Kirsop say they will seek a review
of the commission decision. The Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional
Division has already denied their request to opt out of religious
instruction and the Alberta government hasn’t responded to their appeal
of the division’s decision, Hunter said Friday. “When the School
Act failed us, when our school board blatantly and formally said, no,
then it’s no longer a School Act process. It’s discrimination and it’s
the school board discriminating, and that’s a human rights violation.
That’s why we sent our submissions to the Human Rights Commission.” “It’s
very frustrating,” Kirsop said. “Now we’re told the Alberta Human
Rights Commission is refusing our complaint and we should go back to the
school board. Then, am I supposed to appeal to the minister again? I
just feel like we’re not getting anywhere. I always thought that the
Human Rights Commission was the last resort.” However, Education
Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said this week he is about to announce a
solution to the dispute over secular schooling in Morinville. “Yes,
I have made a decision. I’m just looking at some of the implications. I
want to make sure that there are no unintended consequences from my
decision.” Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division, Sturgeon
School Division and St. Albert Protestant Schools worked together on
the “collaborative decision” that should be announced within the next
two weeks, Lukaszuk said. Hunter said she awaits the announcement “with trepidation.” Hunter
and Kirsop are among a group of parents who have been fighting since
2010 to have non-religious schooling made available in Morinville. Greater
St. Albert Catholic Schools runs all four schools in Morinville, a town
of about 8,000 people 25 kilometres north of Edmonton. The
Catholic division is the area’s designated public school district.
However, its schools offer faith-based programming. That’s because the
majority of people in the area were Catholic when the school division
was created. In November 2010, Hunter made a request that her
daughter be exempted from religious discussions at school. The school
district formally denied the request and argued its mandate is to
provide a Catholic education in which religion permeates the curriculum.
Hunter and other parents filed an appeal asking then-education-minister
Dave Hancock to overturn the district decision. As a temporary
solution, the Sturgeon School Division stepped in to open Morinville
Public Elementary School in September in the Morinville Community
Cultural Centre. Students this month moved into modular classrooms
attached to Georges P. Vanier Elementary School, one of Morinville’s
four Catholic schools. Kirsop and Hunter filed their human rights
complaints late last year alleging their non-Catholic children were
discriminated against because they have not been allowed to opt out of
religious instruction in a system where Catholic doctrine permeates the
school day. Hunter’s complaint to the commission details “strained
and awkward” discussions with school staff at the school where her
daughter attended kindergarten, parents who avoided her at school and
“extremely uncomfortable” school council meetings. Her daughter was
“negatively labelled and treated with derision” because of Hunter’s
public fight for secular schooling, Hunter wrote. The complaints
use a controversial piece of legislation called Bill 44, which the
Alberta government passed in 2009 to amend the Alberta Human Rights Act.
The amendment, designed to recognize Albertans’ right to be protected
from discrimination based on sexual orientation, includes a “parental
rights” clause. School boards have to notify parents ahead of time when
students plan to study religion, human sexuality or sexual orientation,
giving parents the option of pulling their children from the class. The
Alberta Human Rights Commission’s refusal to deal with the Morinville
complaints illustrates the “uselessness” of the law, said Kelly Ernst, a
board member with the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association, who
has written articles about the Morinville dispute. The commission is
inviting appeals, charter challenges and extra expense by refusing the
complaints, Ernst said. “As far as we understand, this is the
first time the Alberta Human Rights Commission has had to deal with a
complaint under this section,” Ernst said. “When it gets bounced
back to the education system, which is what this letter does, it doesn’t
clarify that whole process. It sidesteps it ... The bill really should
be rescinded and this is really good evidence why. This whole process
isn’t working.”
Catholic trustees prefer ‘Respecting Differences’ clubs to gay-straight alliances
Monday January 30th, 2012
Tamara Baluja 27 January 2012 The Globe and Mail
After months of deliberation, the group representing the province’s
Catholic school boards has come up with a new name for anti-homophobia
clubs while still toeing the church’s line. Common in public
schools, gay-straight alliances (GSAs) became the centre of a media
furor after the Halton Catholic school board banned them. While the
Ontario government said anti-homophobia groups must be allowed, Catholic
school boards have struggled with how to support gay students, while
steering clear of activism. The solution? Call these anti-bullying
groups “Respecting Differences” clubs, the Ontario Catholic School
Trustees’ Association says in a report. Recognizing that suicide
rates are higher among homosexual students compared to their
heterosexual peers, OCSTA president Nancy Kirby said Catholic schools
remain committed to providing support for students who are discriminated
against as a result of their sexual orientation. The report sent
on Thursday to all Catholic schools suggests that the Respecting
Difference clubs have a staff adviser present at all times, the school
review any materials for promoting awareness and invite the chaplaincy
to meetings. They are not intended as a “fora for activism, protest or
advocacy of anything that is not in accord with the Catholic faith
foundation of the school,” the report said. “We may not agree with
the advocacy of a lifestyle, but still believe that gay students, and
for that matter any students, should not be bullied,” Ms. Kirby said in
an interview on Friday. “These groups will not look like a GSA,
because the objectives are different from the mandate of a GSA,” she
said. “We are totally against bullying on the basis of sexual
orientation and have nothing against homosexuality. But this is about
anti-bullying specifically, not promoting a lifestyle that goes against
our Catholic teachings.” Leanne Iskander, who has been fighting to
start a gay-straight alliance at her Mississauga Catholic school since
March, 2011, was less than impressed. “It’s very generic, and just
the fact that it has ‘differences’ in its name further marginalizes
queer students,” Ms. Iskander said. “How is that an alliance at all?” Ms.
Iskander, a Grade 12 student at St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School,
called the name worse than Open Arms, the current title of her school’s
anti-homophobia group. “It’s about respecting students for who
they are, not highlighting their differences,” she said. “We wouldn’t
use this name if they [the school] tried to push it on us.”
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