Bill 13, Ontario’s anti-bullying legislation, passed third reading in the legislature today. The bill obtained 65 votes in support from the Liberal and NDP members, and 36 votes against from the Conservatives. I’m quite pleased that this legislation passed in the final form that it assumed, which incorporated amendments giving
Continue readingTag: gay-straight alliances
Pample the Moose: Bill 13’s passage, GSAs and the Catholic Church
Bill 13, Ontario’s anti-bullying legislation, passed third reading in the legislature today. The bill obtained 65 votes in support from the Liberal and NDP members, and 36 votes against from the Conservatives.I’m quite pleased that this legislati…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Victim of Bullying Speaks Out
I have a confession to make: I’m a survivor of bullying. Educated in the Catholic elementary and secondary high school system, it was common for me to be the target of verbal harassment that questioned my worth as a human being and physical abuse in the form of sudden and
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Ontario Catholic Schools To Get GSAs
I admit it. I jumped the gun with my Congratulalien last year. When the Ontario government announced that all schools—including Catholic schools—must allow the formation of student-run GLBT support groups, I took that to mean students would finally be getting GSAs. Having endured twelve years of Catholic schooling myself, I perhaps should
Continue readingPample the Moose: Dalton McGuinty, GSAs and Catholic Schools – A rose by an ambiguous name
Over the past several days, Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, 2012 has been in committee hearings. This is the provincial government’s anti-bullying legislation, meant to provide support groups in schools for various groups of students that have been victims of bullying, but, when it comes right down to it,
Continue readingPample the Moose: Dalton McGuinty, GSAs and Catholic Schools – A rose by an ambiguous name
Over the past several days, Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, 2012 has been in committee hearings. This is the provincial government’s anti-bullying legislation, meant to provide support groups in schools for various groups of students that have been victims of bullying, but, when it comes right down to it,
Continue readingPample the Moose: Dalton McGuinty, GSAs and Catholic Schools – A rose by an ambiguous name
Over the past several days, Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, 2012 has been in committee hearings. This is the provincial government’s anti-bullying legislation, meant to provide support groups in schools for various groups of students that have bee…
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Catholic Schools Unveil Their Tax-Paid GSA Replacements
The Ontario Ministry of Education has long recommended that all schools offer student-run Gay Straight Alliances. GSAs intend to improve the lives of GLBT students, giving them positive role models, and offering a safe respite from bullying. Their benefits are also well-documented; schools with GSAs have a demonstrably lower incidence
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Newfoundland Gets GSA Fund
Looks like Ontario may need to go to Newfoundland for some schooling on schooling. Clyde Jackman, Newfoundland’s education minister, just announced MyGSA, a $90,000 fund to help support the establishment of Gay-Straight Alliances. And it’s available to all schools offering grades 7 to 12. Cool stuff! It’s about time tha—Hey, McGuinty! Pay attention!
Continue readingBully Away The Gay is A-OK, According To Religious Wingnuts
Religious zealots like the Charles McVetys of this world are getting more certifiable by the day as they pervert religion further. Well, now some of these zealots have really outdone themselves this time around as they are opposing an anti-bullying bill tabled by the McGuinty government, as they think it’s
Continue readingThis drama with the Catholic school system reminds me of a Mel Brooks moment
I’m sorry, I just can’t help it sometimes.It’s probably not the most famous or best-remembered scene from Blazing Saddles (and in truth, it’s got a lot of competition), but in light of the Catholic school system’s way of dealing with gay and lesbian st…
Continue readingAll this Catholic-school business reminds me of a Mel Brooks moment
I’m sorry, I just can’t help it sometimes.It’s probably not the most famous or best-remembered scene from Blazing Saddles (and in truth, it’s got a lot of competition), but in light of the Catholic school system’s way of dealing with gay and lesbian st…
Continue readingThe Catholic school system needs to get its hands out of our pockets
And that’s just for starters.The travesty that took place this week is common knowledge by now. Activist Leanne Iskander, who’s got more courage in her little finger than most people have in their whole bodies, has been threatened with disciplinar…
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Catholic Sect Threatens Children Over Tolerance Policy
The Coptic Orthodox Church has threatened to somehow withdraw 5000 schoolchildren from the Toronto Catholic District School Board unless the board scraps its plans to implement the government’s required tolerance and anti-homophobia policies. Jeremiah Attaalla, a spokesperson for the sect, explained the bizarre hostage tactics to the press. ”In these young grades, we don’t want teachers […]
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Ontario Catholic Schools To Get GSAs
Great news! Thanks to pressure from students, the Ontario government has announced that all schools receiving public funding, including Catholic schools, must allow GLBT support groups starting this September. “The choice to have an LGBTQ group will be the choice of students, not the choice of principals and school boards,” MPP Glen Murray announced to […]
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Public Schools Move Forward, Catholic Schools Move Back
The Burnaby School Board unanimously adopted its anti-homophobia policy last week, after months of debating and church-organized protests. A crowd of about 400 students and supporters cheered outside the Burnaby School Board offices when Kaitlin Burnett, a supporter of the policy, emerged to announce its passage. The new policy means that public schools in the […]
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Ontario Catholic School Bans Rainbows
An unofficial Gay-Straight Alliance at St Joseph Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario has been forbidden from displaying any rainbows at their information booth. The school board had already banned official Gay-Straight Alliances—important peer support groups to help reduce incidences of bullying—in their schools (thus the “unofficial” nature of this group), but apparently that didn’t […]
Continue readingPample the Moose: Ontario Catholic schools and Gay-Straight Alliances
I’ve jokingly remarked to my husband in the past that if I’d been born 60 years earlier, I probably would have been a Jesuit priest, rather than the openly-gay university professor that I’ve become. But if I’d been born a mere 6 years earlier, my pare…
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