Surrey school board ramps up pro-homosexual policy
SURREY, British Columbia , – The Surrey School Board has tightened up its newly minted “Safe and caring schools” policy with what it calls a “statement of values” that “underscores” its commitment to “eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” In the amendment to its June “anti-discrimination” policy, the Surrey school district will now “not permit or tolerate any homophobic and/or transphobic behavior such as harassment, intimidation, discrimination or bullying, whether by commission or by failing to act to end such behaviour.” The district justified the new policy this summer, stating that it “recognizes that school community members identifying (either publicly or privately) as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit, intersex, queer or questioning ( LGBTQ ) face a unique set of challenges within schools and communities.” It was only a little more than a decade ago that the Surrey School Board went to bat in the cou