With the world’s spotlight on the It Gets Better campaign and gay teen suicides, the urgency for schools to create gay-straight alliance (GSA) groups seems obvious.
But while the Ontario Ministry of Education thinks GSAs are important, the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) takes a different view.
The HCDSB feels the groups are harmful and has issued a ban on GSAs altogether.
“We don’t have Nazi groups either,” rationalizes board chair Alice Anne LeMay. “Gay-straight alliances are banned because they are not within the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
“If a gay student requests a gay-straight alliance they would be denied,” she says flatly.
“It’s not in accordance with the teachings of the church. If they wanted to have a club outside of school, fine, just not in school.”
What to say? For a school board member of a so-called Christian school to equate the Gay Straight Alliance with Nazis is not against the teachings of the church? Truly, I'm rendered speechless.
H/T to Rob Tisinai at Box Turtle Bulletin, who says:
Thank you Alice Anne LeMay, thank you. Not everyone can make our opponents look so ridiculous in so few words.
