Toronto school board poster promotes polygamy
School posters produced as part of the Toronto District School Board’s “Safe and Positive Spaces” campaign have raised the ire of critics who point out that, besides the expected promotion of homosexuality as normal, one of the posters appears to promote polygamy.
The poster titled “Love has no gender” depicts washroom-sign-style stick men and stick women inside colorful hearts.
Along with hearts that contain 2 stick men or 2 stick women, one heart has one man and 2 women while another has one woman and 2 men.
Doretta Wilson, executive director of the Society for Quality Education, an Ontario-based education policy think-tank, told the National Post that the school board has “crossed the line” in its attempt to be politically correct.
“I think the gut reaction of most parents is going to be, ‘Whoa, wait a minute, what are these being used for?’ ” Wilson said. “This is where parents who may be as tolerant as they come might say, ‘I think maybe we’ve now crossed a line.’ ”
“There will be some schools in the city where the populations, the demographics, are going to be very upset with this… We’re trying to be so politically correct,” Ms. Wilson added. “We’ve gone so far to one end of the spectrum that now you do start insulting and offending people inadvertently.”
Opponents of homosexual “marriage,” have long argued that the legalization of polygamy will be the inevitable result of the redefinition of marriage.
Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, said the posters amount to “psychological child abuse.”
“This is outrageous behaviour on behalf of teachers,” McVety told the Toronto Sun.
“In fact, in some ways, these posters are abusive — psychologically,” McVety said. “Now the TDSB has not only decided to teach our children to question their gender, but to indoctrinate them with a sign campaign so children can’t get away from it. That is beyond education.”
However, spokesman for the TDSB, Ryan Bird, dismissed the criticism, insisting that the board does not support polygamy and the poster was aimed at educating students about gender-based discrimination and was “meant to show that a person can be attracted to more than one gender.”
Bird added that “The goal of the campaign was to identify safe, welcoming and inclusive school spaces for all students,” and that the posters “went through the regular consultation and equity vetting process.”
Another poster in the campaign depicts a school of colorful fish with the slogan “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re in your school.” Under the heading of “There are no rules for being a boy or a girl” another poster features crossed-dressed children, with the largest image of a young boy dressed in a bright orange wig, fuchsia dress and pink boots.
The Toronto District School Board’s website promoting the “Safe and Positive Spaces” campaigndescribes the school initiative as “A harassment free space that welcome, affirms and supports all sexual identities, biological sexes, sexual orientations, gender expressions and gender identities.”
In related news, the Toronto Sun reports that the Toronto District School Board’s website has a link to the “Coalition for Positive Sexuality” that entices children to experiment sexually with vegetables.
Dr. Charles McVety has written a letter of complaint to the Attorney General of Ontario, John Gerretsen, stating that the “TDSB — through its website — is corrupting Ontario’s children with extraordinary explicit instruction,” and demanding criminal proceedings be brought against the board.
“It is the responsibility of the Ontario government to protect our children. According to Section 172 of the Criminal Code of Canada, it is an indictable offence to ‘endanger the morals of the child,’ ” Dr. McVety wrote. “On behalf of our 100,000 members and other like-minded parents, I am calling on you, the Attorney General of Ontario, to commence criminal proceedings against the Toronto District School Board.”
Contact info:
Toronto District School Board
Dr. Christopher Spence, Director of Education
5050 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8
Phone: 416-397-3000
Email: via website
Dr. Christopher Spence, Director of Education
5050 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8
Phone: 416-397-3000
Email: via website
