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Toronto School Children Forced to Endure Homosexual Sensitivity Training

Muslim parents are refused exemption for their children

TORONTO, November 17, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Toronto District School Board elementary school, hosting mandatory same-sex sensitivity training for its schoolchildren, is not allowing any exemptions -- even for Muslim children whose parents object to the content of the instruction.

The videos and discussion, called "anti-homophobia education" by the board, are aimed at children, to purportedly eliminate the bullying of children living in families with same-sex parents.

At a meeting attended by 150 parents Tuesday, school board officials said there would be no allowance for parents with children at Market Lane Public School to excuse their kids from the classes. To allow some children to be excused from the classes would be discriminatory against children of same-sex couples, board officials argued. As many as 10 to 15 percent of children attending the school are Muslim.

School board official Patricia Hayes claimed, "religious beliefs do not trump human rights," according to a Toronto Star report.

"They showed a gay lifestyle to the kids without the knowledge of the parents," father of three, Mohamed Yassin said. "They're willing to help gay students with support. Gay people have their rights. I have my rights."

David Crichton, Market Lane principal, said same-sex lifestyles may be portrayed in any grade level, from kindergarten, in stories depicting children with two mothers, for example, rather than a mother and father. Exempting some children from the same-sex sensitivity training "sends a clear message to the students in my school that may have same-sex parents," he claimed.

"They are trying to make it a Muslim issue, but a Christian or Jew would feel the same," Omer Amir, a parent of a 5-year-old at the school, said. "Would they allow me to teach my religion at school? No they would not."

Read Toronto Star coverage: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thes...

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