Toronto Catholic teachers’ union backs gay relationships
Image via WikipediaTORONTO, Ontario, December 13, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A major wing of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) is calling on the union to ensure teachers at Catholic schools who are in homosexual relationships are eligible for hiring and promotion despite their dissent to the Church’s prohibition of homosexual relations. The Toronto OECTA group is also calling for the union to formally endorse gay-straight clubs.
On November 24th, OECTA’s Toronto Secondary Unit (TSU) passed resolutions to make these two proposals at the controversial union’s annual general meeting in March.
The votes come at the same time as OECTA has openly celebrated its partnership with homosexual lobby group Egale in a statement praising a new bill by Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals cracking down on homosexual bullying.
LifeSiteNews exposed OECTA’s partnership with Egale last December, causing a stir among members who objected to having their union dues support one of the leading architects of same-sex “marriage” in Canada.
The Catholic union helped fund the activist group’s MyGSA.ca website, which recommends books to help teens “come out”, including one that gives advice on “getting laid” and navigating the gay bar scene.
The TSU’s motions passed narrowly and some expect that they may not even make it to the floor of the annual general meeting.
The first resolution calls on the union to make it a bargaining priority to protect homosexual teachers from dismissal and loss of promotions. The second would have the union “endorse and encourage the formation of support groups keeping with the philosophy and objectives of Gay-Straight Alliances.”
A source who attended the meeting told LifeSiteNews that the resolutions were proposed by left-wing activists and likely passed due to deliberate “obfuscation” around homosexual issues at the meeting.
“I came away from that meeting, to tell you the truth, feeling crushed,” the teacher said.
“Just because one disapproves of homosexual acts, does that make one a hater? You love the sinner, but you hate the sin,” the source commented.
The source argued that OECTA is “a moral organization” that has promoted pro-life events over the course of its history, but has “a left-wing tilt” among certain individuals. The TSU activists have pledged to present the resolutions again if they fail this year, the teacher said.
Over the last decade, OECTA has promoted bizarre sex conferences featuring talks on drag queens and sex toys; used their own conferences to feature leading dissident Catholics and abortion supporters; seriously mulled the official promotion of homosexual ‘marriage’; and even sought to intervene in a court proceeding against a Catholic school which was being sued by a male student for refusing to permit him to bring his gay ‘boyfriend’ to the school prom.
“Catholic teaching is clear that homosexual relationships are intrinsically disordered, so affording benefits to same-sex partners would be an open rebellion against Catholic moral doctrine,” said Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholics. “Why would our Catholic schools be hiring people with same-sex partners anyway?”
“The bishops have been very clear that GSAs should not be allowed in the schools. All they will do is further confuse children who are already struggling with their sexuality,” he continued. “Our children need authentic moral instruction on this timely issue.”
“The time for turning a blind eye to OECTA’s heretical policies and actions is over. I would urge the Bishops to take a clear stand,” he added.
LifeSiteNews did not hear back from OECTA by press time.
