Xtra is reporting some great news from last night's Halton Catholic board meeting: the ill-advised ban on gay-straight alliances (GSAs) has been lifted.
"In a 6-2 vote, trustees decided to rescind the ban and shelve their equity and inclusive education policy. While a new policy is drafted, the board will use the Catholic 'template,' a version of Ontario’s equity policy that’s written specifically for English Catholic boards by the Ontario Education Services Corporation. Originally Halton wasn't satisfied with the Catholic template, so they made a few edits when they quietly passed the policy in November, such as removing the terms 'sexual orientation' and 'gender.' That's when they also added the ban on GSAs.
When asked by Xtra whether or not the board will allow groups to be called gay-straight alliance clubs, board chair Alice Anne LeMay refused to answer the question.
“I can’t answer that tonight. The policy will go to senior administration and will be implemented in the schools,” she says.'
Congrats to the board for correcting its error. I hope their new equity policy doesn't fail LGBT students the way their last policy did. I agree with local Halton Catholic student James Hopkins, who says he plans to take the fight to Queen’s Park to pressure the Ministry of Education to push for one equity and inclusive education policy for all school boards, Catholic and public.
1 comment:
So glad to hear about this.
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