Response from my MPP on GSAs

A little over three months ago, I sent a letter to my local MPP discussing the ban on Gay-Straight Alliances in Ontario Catholic schools and imploring action. His name is Yasir Naqvi, and he also happens to be the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education. Yesterday, his reply arrived.

Dear Mr. McArdle,

Thank you for your emails regarding the Catholic school system in Ontario. I appreciate the time you have taken to write and share your concerns with me, and I would like to apologize for the delay in my response. Every student in Ontario’s publicly funded schools is entitled to respect, equity, and an education free from discrimination and harassment. Students do better in a respectful and inclusive environment, and those in our publicly funded schools are fortunate to benefit from an environment where kids from all ages, races, and backgrounds share a classroom. Their differences help to make our province’s schools among the very best in the world.

Last fall, our government required Ontario school boards to implement one of the most progressive inclusive education policies in North America. Every school board now must have their own Equity Policy, including Catholic and Francophone boards. Our Equity and Inclusive Education Policy is clear; discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation are unacceptable, and boards and schools all have a role to play in helping to build more inclusive schools. We take matters like this very seriously: we have also passed legislation to make reporting violent incidents mandatory, and added “bullying” to the Safe Schools Act. We are focused on ensuring that all students have the supports in our schools through student-led forums to feel welcome, safe and free from discrimination and harassment.

I know that student support groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) students have been controversial within some Ontarian schools. In September, 2010 our government presented Gay Straight Alliances as an option for boards to build more inclusive, respectful schools, but it has been left to school boards to decide whether or not to implement them. However, earlier this month the Premier stated that “…effective this September, high school students who want their school to have a student support group for LGBT students will have one. This is not a matter of choice for school boards or principals. If students want it, they will have it.” I am very proud of our government’s firm stance on this issue. We must all ensure that every Ontarian student feels welcome, safe and supported in an environment free from discrimination and harassment. Gender-based and homophobic bullying is unacceptable in all schools.

Once again, thank you for writing. Please do not hesitate to contact me at my Community Office at any time to share your thoughts and concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Yasir Naqvi, MPP
Ottawa Centre

I thanked him for the reply, and asked him if this meant that students would no longer be forbidden from starting Gay-Straight Alliances.

That clarification is needed. The Catholic schools are currently working on a framework for their own version of the clubs, and the skeptic in me believes that the McGuinty government would be content to keep the ban in place and if it meant the introduction of these new clubs. I have reasons to suspect this will be the case given the exchange quoted below:

Does McGuinty’s announcement mean, then, that there will be GSAs that are called GSAs and supported by Catholic school administrators next year? “Premier McGuinty did not use the words GSAs,” Murray wrote in a text message to Xtra. “He said ‘support groups for LGBT youth.”

Ignoring the acceptance of intolerance with the persistence of the ban, the problem with this is that there is a world of difference between a GSA and what I’ll call the “framework clubs.”

Gay-Straight Alliances are student run clubs that provide support for students affected by LGBT issues and their allies.  The good they’ve done in making schools safer for students have been espoused over and over by the Ministry of Education.

Meanwhile, the framework clubs came to be out of an opposition to the genuine support offered by GSAs. Not exactly a promising start. Furthermore, its mandate is being worked out by the same institution whose leadership in Ontario dictates that gay students must be viewed as intrinsically disordered. The same institution that continues to marginalize queer students, sometimes to absurd lengths.

Imagine if an organization who believed that racial minorities were “intrinsically disordered” had decided to come up with their own version of an anti-racism club, as a means to prevent real anti-racism clubs from taking hold. I think it’s quite evident how students would not likely be served with such alternatives.

Update: Naqvi’s comments for this article gives further credence to the scenario I suggest. I’ll be the first to celebrate should I turn out to be wrong.

Update: Xtra! has an interesting article on the situation.