Canadian comedian Rick Mercer has a regular feature where he "rants" on his CBC TV show. This one from 2007 was rebroadcast in October 2011 and recently went virual when it was posted on the "It Gets Better" website. In it, he says that it is not enough to tell bullied gay kids in high school that "it gets better", given the suicide rate among gay teens. More decisive action is needed. He ends the video by saying that gay public figures to be more open about their sexual orientation and serve as role models to gay youth.
Maybe this is the decisive action which he's talking about:
On November 30, 2011, the province of Ontario passed tough new legislation designed to crack down on homosexual bullying in schools. The legislation aims to impose tougher consequences, including expulsion, for “bullying and hate-motivated actions.” All of Ontario’s Catholic and public schools will be required to set up gay-straight alliances if students request them. Read more about it here:
I'm sure all the Catholic bishops and school administrators will have their panties in a bunch over this one.
In Ontario, Catholic schools are publically-funded from JK to grade 12. The problem was that the Catholic bishops in Ontario do not permit GSAs in the Catholic schools because they “imply a self-identification with sexual orientation that is often premature among high school students.” Brave LGBT teenagers (and their supporters) across Ontario are constantly being harassed and suspended by Catholic school administrators for doing things as simple as wearing a Pride button to school.
It is typical of the Catholic schools that they have to be forced to do the right thing through legislation and court challenges. It was only a few years ago they were taken to the Supreme Court (where they lost) because they tried to prevent a gay student from taking his same-sex date to the prom. I find the Catholic hierarchy the worst hypocrites of all .... they are probably too busy lusting over cute altar boys to do the right thing.
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It's very simple: You take government money, you get government rules. Good for the Provincial government for telling the Catholic church to go get stuffed.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I wonder when the secular government had to be the moral authority to keep the Church in check. It really should be the other way around, shouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteRG: Thanks for commenting. I agree, good for the government! It is a Liberal (left wing) government who is pushing this GSA legislation ahead. It was also a national Liberal government which legalized same-sex marriage in Canada over ten years ago.
ReplyDeleteAt the heart of the matter, I think, is the Canadian public which is supportive of fairness and justice for all including those in the LGBTQ community.
Mack: Yes, I am constantly appalled at some of the things which people do in the name of religion. I've heard of some brave LGBTQ kids who were so harassed by Catholic school authorities that they had to seek sanctuary and switch to the public (secular) high school system.