As I'm sure you know, the bloated bigot Jason Kenney is waging war on LGBT children. Again. Claiming that his opposition to Alberta's Bill 24, that is designed to protect gay kids who wish to join a Gay-Straight Alliance, doesn't mean he wants to out them to their parents. Who could hurt them, or throw them into the street as so many parents do. Or even kill them. But like everything that self loathing closet queen says or does, his words mean nothing. And as Rick Mercer says, Kenney should be picking on somebody his own size.
They had to fight so hard for the right to set up Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in their schools. They had to battle ignorance and religious bigotry. They were called Nazis, forbidden by their school boards and their principals to use the word gay, or even draw the rainbow colours. But they never gave up, They just baked the colours into cupcakes. And kept on fighting. They forced governments to take action. They won battle after battle. There are more and more GSAs all over the country. And this is their greatest most magnificent victory.
I've been so busy celebrating Obama's big victory, that I haven't been able to do this story justice. For it too was an amazing victory, and a tribute to all those gay Americans who never gave up the struggle despite one bitter defeat after the other. Never gave up spreading the word that marriage equality is a human right. And love is love...
I must admit that I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Maybe it's because when I was a boy I lived by the sea. On a coastline dotted with small fishing villages that were once so busy and then so still. Maybe it's because they were poor and other people made fun of them. Or maybe it's just because they are some of the warmest, friendliest, funniest people I have ever met.
Newfoundland and Labrador's education department is set to announce plans to help schools across the province create safe, welcoming environments for gay students.
For standing up for bullied children, and sending out such a powerful message.
Leanne Iskander is a 16-year-old lesbian who has led the fight to create a Gay-Straight Alliance club at her state-funded Catholic school in Ontario.
But last week the Toronto Catholic District School Board voted to put denominational rights before human rights. And now her principal is threatening her with disciplinary action.
Iskander, the founder of Catholic Students for GSAs (CS4GSA), and her parents were summoned for a meeting with St Joseph Catholic Secondary School principal Jeff Quenneville on Sept 1 to discuss her latest proposal for a GSA, Iskander says. The principal told her unequivocally that “an LGBT support group or GSA will never be permitted in any Catholic school because the bishops forbid them.”
And not just threatening Leanne. Also threatening her teachers:
A teacher at the school who asked to remain anonymous to protect his job says Quenneville had a clear message to staff about GSAs: “The principal said, ‘Our job is Catholicism first, curriculum second. The secular world may look at our beliefs and say we are bigots, but it is our beliefs and they are protected.’”
The teacher says Quenneville also made it clear that "if you didn't agree, then find another job."
You know, I think the board and principal are the ones who should be looking for other jobs. Because if the board thinks that religious rights trump human rights they're totally wrong. This is Canada not Iran.
If the principal thinks that tax payers should fund a school that puts Catholicism first, and the curriculum second, he's deluded. And yes he is a bigot, and dangerously ignorant.
I am writing to you from the emergency ward at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, where my son is recovering from an attempted suicide.
Every day he curses that he is gay because of the bullying and abuse he experiences.
There are many days that I have had to wipe eggs off of our windows and our home while some of the public shows its disapproval for my son. This is truly the ugly (side) of our society. My son is a loving boy and it is extremely sad that he is so often judged by his sexual orientation rather than the wonderful qualities of his character.
As for the bishops, those perfumed bigots are the last people to lecture anybody about morality.
Or be allowed to dictate the fate of children.
And as for their plans to ban the word "gay" and the gay rainbow symbol, those homophobes can just take a hike.
Oh boy. I think it's time to roll out the Gay Rainbow Machine of Mass Destruction Instruction...
So bigots everywhere can see that beautiful symbol of tolerance, even with their blinkers on.
Time also to support Leanne and all her friends who are struggling to make our schools kinder, gentler, better places for everyone. Support them, and send her a message of encouragement.
And of course, since I am what I am, and I've been battling bullies and bigots as long as I can remember. And always will.
I think it's a really EXCELLENT excuse to play this song again...
As the Halton Catholic District School Board prepares to debate its decision to ban the Gay-Straight Alliance from its schools. And this reporter states the obvious.
Catholic schools should not be allowed to override our Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the name of religion.
As Grade 11 student trustee Clarisse Schneider said of the current policy, it is “saying that supporting our gay peers and accepting them is wrong, that being yourself is wrong. A gay-straight alliance is nothing to do with homosexual activity, it is about acceptance and belonging.” From the mouths of babes.
And the ignorance and bigotry of those who are supposed to be making sure their schools are safe for ALL children is brutishly revealed:
The anti-gay gaffes keep coming. At the policy meeting on Jan 11 in Burlington, trustee Ed Viana told the story of Sodom and Gomorrah; afterward, trustee Jane Michael told Xtra, "I don't think sex clubs should be in school."
And other gay kids aren't even allowed to use the word gay.
A parent of a gay teenager sends an anguished message from a hospital emergency room.
I am writing to you from the emergency ward at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, where my son is recovering from an attempted suicide.
Every day he curses that he is gay because of the bullying and abuse he experiences. I am not naïve enough to believe that all of his fellow teenagers are accepting of his orientation. If he could conform to what many believe is “normal”, he surely would.
There are many days that I have had to wipe eggs off of our windows and our home while some of the public shows its disapproval for my son. This is truly the ugly (side) of our society. My son is a loving boy and it is extremely sad that he is so often judged by his sexual orientation rather than the wonderful qualities of his character.
And strangely enough all I can think of is, I hope that parent, that wounded teenager, and all those other gay kids saw Chris Colfer, the gay actor from Glee, pick up a Golden Globe Award the other night.
And send them a message...
Because I did and I thought it was awesome.
Yup. Screw that, kids. That's all that needs to be said.
If some members of that Catholic School Board can't do their jobs.
For the sake of that kid in the hospital, for the sake of human decency.
Gay-Straight Alliances are wonderful student groups that promote tolerance and safer schools.
You can find them in schools right across Canada. The Ontario government and many educators think they are a useful tool for fighting bullying and teen suicides.
But the Halton Catholic District School Board has banned them, because in the words of its Chair, Alice Anne LeMay:
“We don’t have Nazi groups either... Gay-Straight Alliances are banned because they are not within the teachings of the Catholic Church."
Can you believe that? Comparing decent gay and straight kids to Nazi scum. What an ignorant woman. What a hideous bigot.
But then what do you expect eh?
When the leader of her ghastly cult once belonged to a Nazi club himself...
And now presides over a church wallowing in the filth of child abuse and homophobia.
The bottom line: if Catholic School Boards aren't prepared to make schools safer for ALL children, they should get out of the school business.
