Halton Ontario Catholic School District Board To Revisit Ban On Gay-Straight Alliances; Board Director Alice Anne LeMay Apologises For Suggesting That Gay-Straight Alliances Were Akin To Nazi Groups

An update on a previous post, the Halton Ontario District Catholic School Board announced it will revisit a recently implemented policy that bans gay-straight alliance groups, put in place under pressure from bishops, the National Post reports. Gay rights supporters said Monday that the ban on the gay rights support groups which attempt to educate and foster empathy between gay and straight youth, is archaic and ill-advised. Alice Anne LeMay, the chairperson of the board, said Monday that the ban was added to the board’s Equity and Inclusive Education policy at a final meeting November 16nd just prior to a newly elected board was sworn in, and as the province’s Ministry of Education’s new equity legislation came into effect. LeMay said “When we worked through it and it was passed on November 16th, some things were added about the exclusion of certain groups, particularly a (gay-straight alliance) group and that’s the way it was passed.” Earlier, she apologised for a statement she made that said gay-straight alliances “like Nazi groups” would not be allowed in Halton’s Catholic schools because they “don’t fall within the teachings of the Catholic church.” The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario had sent a letter to all Catholic school boards suggesting, with an awkward irony, that ministry-proposed gay-straight alliance groups might be too premature for high school students, and, according to LeMay, Trustee Anthony Danko strongly suggested that the Halton board heed the bishop’s instruction, and the board voted in favour 8-1, with 2 abstentions. However, as previously posted, the new Halton board includes 22 year old Paul Marai, the first openly gay trustee to be elected, and he said that telling students they cannot have a specific group that addresses homophobia and gay rights conveys a discordant message, and he intends to raise the issue at policy meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening. “Students don’t react well to bans in the first place,” said Marai. “Unfortunately by banning (gay-straight alliances), they made it a bigger issue.” The next board meeting is set for January 17th, and Halton Catholic School District School Board’s director of education, Michael Pautler, said late Monday that the board already planned to review the issue, saying “Clearly this advanced that timeline.”