Alberta gov’t under fire for linking to groups pushing graphic gay sex sites

Children's advocates in Alberta are calling foul after finding the Alberta government linking to organizations that promote websites with graphic sex content.

Until this week, within just two clicks from a government-sponsored site, children could find a video showing a naked man tied to a bed being whipped vigorously.

Exploring the government-funded Alberta Gay Straight Alliance Network website, Theresa Ng of the Informed Albertans blog found links to groups such as Fruit Loop that linked to graphic sexual sites.

Fruit Loop is an Edmonton LGBTQ+ arts and entertainment site that invites followers to submit their own posts. These include, Ng discovered, “images of naked men being flogged and restrained” with tips on where to buy restraints and how to use them. 

Fruit Loop also links to a how-to article about masturbation. “Your child is even advised to ‘pay for porn’ and ‘visit a group masturbation night at your local sex club,’” Ng said.

Another how-to article they feature illustrates oral and genital sex with an image of a banana.

“Using schools to intentionally direct and connect children to community organizations that peddle sexually graphic content is not safe or appropriate,” complained Ng, a former public school teacher and mother of three.

“It is dangerous, reckless and wrong. K-12 children who access GSAs are often already struggling and vulnerable. Exposure to the sexually graphic content made available through the Alberta GSA Network website puts these children at further risk of harm and victimization.”

Ng is especially worried that they could be linked to sexual predators.

The New Democratic government is in the midst of rewriting the school curriculum to include LGBT-friendly content. In the meantime, it is requiring all schools in the province to allow LGBT students to establish gay-straight alliance clubs. To assist them, the government has funded the creation of the AGSA Network. Its creator is University of Alberta professor Kristopher Wells, director of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services.

Donna Trimble, executive director of Parents for Choice in Education, wants the government to acknowledge whether or not Wells is part of the curriculum rewrite.

“Wells and the ISMSS were in charge and clearly were not professional enough to realize that sado-masochistic material is inappropriate for Alberta students as young as five,” she said. “They have proven they have no place in positions of responsibility over our children. I want to know if they are on any of the expert panels the government has set up to advise them on the curriculum.”

Trimble also wants to know if “a crime has been committed in providing this material to K-12 children.” She has asked the Edmonton police to investigate.

Ng claimed that Wells has shared posts from Fruit Loop on his own social media, “including a ‘fast-paced ad’ for sneakers featuring naked young people kissing and embracing in hetero- and same-sex pairings.”

“Clearly,” she observed, “he is not ignorant of the sexually graphic content of [Fruit Loop] posts.”

Adriana Lagrange, the president of the Alberta Catholic School Trustees Association, said her organization “would not want anything detrimental to the health and welfare of students” to be provided on Education Ministry websites. However, she told LifeSiteNews that she could not comment on the sites linked to the AGSA site without further study by her board.

Wells responded to an email query from LifeSiteNews, saying Ng’s was the first complaint that website organizers had received.

“It’s unfortunate that we were not contacted directly,” he said. “We have reviewed all external web links and removed community links to focus on educational and pride organizations.”

A spokesperson for Education Minister David Eggen told LifeSiteNews that funding for the Institute of Sexual Minority Studies and Services was “a conditional one-time grant,” but would not say whether more grants would be forthcoming. As for the “the link that has raised concerns from parents,” it “is being taken down by ISMSS after discussing the matter with the Minister’s office.”A quick check revealed that Fruit Loop was indeed gone. So were “Brown, Black and Fierce,” “I Dig Your Girlfriend,” “Queer Cuts” and the “Edmonton Men’s Health Collective,” to name a few.

However, Trimble is not satisfied.

“This material should never have come before the eyes of children,” she said. “That it did so ought to rule ISMSS and Professor Wells out of any involvement with Alberta’s education system.” Furthermore, she said, “This should not have been discovered by volunteer parents. Why didn’t the government ensure this didn’t happen?”