VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 25, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An organization in British Columbia that champions the natural family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life has filed a human rights complaint against the Vancouver School Board (VSB) for using in its meetings, policies, and schools what the group calls “hateful, defamatory, and demeaning terminology.”
Culture Guard filed the complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal last Wednesday claiming that the school board’s use of the terms “homophobe, homophobic, and homophobia” is “offensive” and discriminates against beliefs and values held by certain groups.
“Such terms are designed to promote hatred and contempt,” stated Culture Guard president Kari Simpson in a press release. “They are used to isolate, marginalize, and belittle individuals and groups that hold opinions at variance to those of the sex activists within the education establishment.”
Simpson told LifeSiteNews that the complaint was filed not only on her own behalf but on behalf of Chinese Christians residing in Vancouver who, according to Simpson, were verbally assaulted when they raised concerns over the ‘anti-homophobia’ policies that were being enacted in their school district.
The VSB defines homophobia as “the irrational fear and hatred of homosexuals,” adding that such fear and hatred is “dangerous to individuals and communities.”
Simpson told LifeSiteNews that the term “phobia” is suggestive of a severe mental disorder that requires medical treatment. She pointed out that while terms such as homophobia gives one the impression of medically sanctioned nomenclature, in reality, she says, “they are simply slurs invented for hateful propaganda purposes.”
Simpson pointed out that the concerned Chinese parents had asked the VSB for policies aimed at making their schools safe that would apply to all children, not policies that “singled out certain groups identified by sex-activists as worthy of protection.”
In the complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal, Simpson stated that “these made-up words are designed to demean, demoralize and foster hatred and contempt for those who acknowledge the scientific, medical and economic harm associated with certain sexual practices.”
“If terms like ‘niger’ are no longer allowed or considered to be proper, then to label someone as a ‘homophobe’ as if they have a mental disease should not be tolerated,” she said to LifeSiteNews.
Simpson proposed in the complaint that she and the group she is representing would be redressed if the VSB “immediately cease all use of references and resources that project, advise, counsel and/or indoctrinate students, staff or the broader community, in any manner, that the terms homophobe, homophobia, homophobic are acceptable.”
Simpson has furthermore asked that the VSB issue a public apology to the individuals and groups who she says have been “harmed, belittled, and demeaned” by the VSB’s “failure to respect … religious beliefs and practices.”
Culture Guard has also proposed an early settlement meeting with the VSB before pursuing further legal action.