MARK CRIPPS MANAGING EDITOR, TALES FROM THE CRYPT

Published on Feb 11, 2010

The Hamilton Wentworth District School Board is quite proud of its new equity policy, including a component that includes sexual orientation.

“It’s not about teaching something that’s contrary to what people might believe,” said HWDSB education director John Malloy in August 2009, just months after he assumed the new position.

Fostering an environment free of racism and discrimination is no easy task when you’re dealing with hundreds of schools and thousands of students.

And it’s even more difficult when some of those young minds come from religious backgrounds that advocate a different view of homosexuality, in accordance with respective interpretations of scripture or holy text.

The board’s insistence to move ahead in spite of certain religious beliefs and with disregard for the concerns of some parents seems a little heavy-handed.

At least that’s how I felt after reviewing a handout given to teachers recently, which basically indicates parents have no rights when it comes to their child’s education at the HWDSB.

Teachers were given the handout recently to assist in dealing with questions from parents opposed to anti-homophobia curriculum in schools. For example, in response to the question, “This is against our rights as parents to teach our own set of family values,” the board is telling its teachers to respond with, “This is not about parents rights.”

I will post the handout online this week, and you can download it and read the responses you’ll get if you ask about the board’s gender equity and sexual orientation policy.

Here is the handout: (added for ease of access)

The board compares anti-homophobia education to teaching students about aboriginal rights. I don’t know of any religion that has a specific doctrine on aboriginals.

However, some Christians, Muslims and Jews believe homosexuality is a sin, or is forbidden according to their beliefs.

I don’t support that view. My brother is gay, and I certainly appreciate the challenges he has faced. I will share this understanding with my daughter as she grows up, and ensure she understands that discrimination of any kind is not acceptable regardless of what others might say. That’s my right as a parent. I don’t expect the school to take care of that job for me.

However, to say parents with more fundamentalist views of homosexuality have no rights when it comes to the education of their children is complicated, and can’t be brushed aside with a snappy answer sheet provided to teachers.

What happens when little Johnny learns one view at church and home, and then is told that view is unacceptable at school? It seems to me there are a lot of adults playing around with little Johnny’s brain. Who does little Johnny believe? His parents, his church or his teacher?

According to the board’s sexual orientation policy, it will support curriculum, learning materials and school practices which reflect and include the principles of equity, as regulated by the Ministry of Education.

Some parents have asked if their children can be removed from situations where anti-homophobic education takes place. Mandatory provincial curriculum includes diverse family structures. The board says no child will be excused from the class when topics of homosexuality are brought into the classroom.

I don’t know what the compromise is. Teaching children about black history or the rights of the disabled doesn’t violate any specific religious belief.

Teaching children how to engage in safe homosexual intercourse might be uncomfortable for someone who has been taught since birth that the very act constitutes a sin according to their respective faith.

Does the board believe faith has no value in its schools? Does the board really support the principle that parents have no rights over their child’s education?

Right or wrong, rejecting the dogma of specific faiths doesn't seem very inclusive.

http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/opinions/article/202314