Showdown: Ontario gvmt tells Catholic schools gay clubs policy is non-negotiable
By Patrick B Craine, LifeSite News
After Ontario’s Catholic trustees took a strong stand against homosexual activism in a new anti-bullying plan last week, Ontario’s government has slammed the plan for failing to allow for single-issue clubs for homosexual students.
“We’ve been absolutely crystal clear that we expect students to participate in groups and have the issues important to them talked about,” Education Minister Laurel Broten told the Catholic Register’s Deborah Gyapong on Monday.
In a Jan. 25th document titled Respecting Differences, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association (OCSTA) established a framework for student-led clubs to combat bullying related to racism, gender, disability, and sexual orientation.
The document insists the clubs remain faithful to Catholic teaching, be overseen by a staff advisor who knows and believes the Church’s teaching, and cannot engage in activism against Catholic teaching.
It comes in response to Broten’s Bill 13 (the Accepting Schools Act), which would require schools to allow students to “establish and lead … organizations with the name gay-straight alliance or another name.”
Broten and Premier Dalton McGuinty have both insisted the bill would require schools to establish GSAs, and Broten has labeled opponents of the bill as “homophobic.”
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