Gay-straight alliances starting up in Ontario elementary schools
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| Some schools have gay–straight alliances or similar groups to counter homophobia and bullying and provide support for LGBT students in school. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
TORONTO, Teachers at elementary schools across Ontario are being encouraged to start up gay straight alliances to cater to children in even the earliest grades, reports the Toronto Star.
The day before the passage of the McGuinty government’s controversial homosexual “rights” Bill 13 that forces homosexual activist clubs on all the province’s schools, the Star reported that a teacher at Toronto’s Westwood Middle School, Natasha Garda, started a GSA last year. According to the paper, members of Garda’s elementary school gay-straight alliance “recently ran workshops for local Grade 5 students about gender stereotypes and homophobia,” during which “Westwood students presented a skit about gender stereotypes in which a boy is teased for wearing a pink shirt, and helped the younger students find stereotypes in magazines and classic fairy tales.”
A statement from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario says that the group is strongly in favor of GSAs in elementary schools and has “recently hosted a first-ever symposium for Grades 7 and 8 teachers who want to start GSAs in their schools.”
“Just as all teachers are expected to stand up against racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, so too must they stand up and protect students from homophobia and transphobia,” said ETFO President Sam Hammond. “We’re pleased that neither a board nor principal may prevent students from using the name ‘gay-straight alliance’ if they wish to start such a student organization.”
The Star’s report provoked incredulity from one pro-family leader. “Kids who perhaps should be playing ball in the schoolyard and learning innocently are instead having sexualized theories and the idea of being gay placed in their minds,” responded Jack Fonseca of Campaign Life Catholics.
“That’s far too young for many impressionable children who have not yet developed a strong sense of their sexuality,” Fonseca stated. “Sometimes kids can be confused and they need time to grow out of that confusion. We shouldn’t be pushing psychosexual confusion on these kids and pushing them in that direction by planting an idea at these tender ages that they might otherwise not have.”
The Star reported that Natasha Garda offered how-to information on starting homosexual clubs in their schools at this symposium to some 50 colleagues from across the province.
Westwood principal Helen Fisher told the Star that she plans to offer help to nearby middle schools to start their own GSAs, remarking that following a school-wide “anti-homophobia” assembly last fall at Westwood, children were heard by teachers “hurling anti-gay insults in the schoolyard.”
“They had all just been at the assembly so they were really aware of the issue and immediately called out to the students to stop and come inside to the office,” said Fisher.
Fonseca noted that with Ontario’s Catholic bishops having allowed GSAs to be established in all Catholic schools in the province under the mandate of Bill 13, there is nothing to stop the goals of the homosexualist movement from being implemented in Catholic elementary schools as well.
“The absence of a restriction to high school for the application of Bill 13 means that GSAs and the sexualized curriculum changes that Bill 13 will bring about can be brought in by students themselves or teachers who support the goals of the homosexualist movement,” Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.
“Traditionally-principled parents need to be aware that their children are being brainwashed against their sincerely held religious beliefs and values,” Fonseca cautioned, adding that, “Parents have to stop, take a breath, and think about the psychosexual confusion that the government may be causing in these young children.”
“Will they stand idly by and surrender the hearts and minds of their children to this state propaganda?”
Contact:
Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario
Sam Hammond, President
480 University Avenue, Suite 1000
Toronto, ON M5G 1V2
Phone: 416-962-3836 Ext. 2348
Toll Free: 1-888-838-3836
Fax: 416-642-2424
Email: shammond@etfo.org
Sam Hammond, President
480 University Avenue, Suite 1000
Toronto, ON M5G 1V2
Phone: 416-962-3836 Ext. 2348
Toll Free: 1-888-838-3836
Fax: 416-642-2424
Email: shammond@etfo.org
