TORONTO, Ontario, September 14, 2011 LifeSiteNews.com – Ontario’s Liberal government will not back down from imposing its homosexualist equity and inclusive education (EIE) strategy on Ontario’s schools, insists Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne, who oversaw the controversial policy’s development.
In an interview with Xtra last Wednesday, Wynne said the education system is the “single most important” means of tackling “homophobia” among today’s youth.
The EIE strategy, which Wynne launched in her previous role as Minister of Education, urged school boards to participate in the Gay Pride parades, use texts by homosexual authors, and introduce gay-straight alliance clubs.
Since its introduction, public school boards such as Toronto and Hamilton have moved to integrate their “sexual diversity” instruction throughout the curriculum while at the same time forbidding parents from removing their children from the classroom during controversial discussions. McGuinty’s government has failed to enforce a clear Ministry policy allowing exemptions from material deemed offensive by parents.
The government has also forcefully imposed its equity policy on Catholic schools. In July, McGuinty said implementing homosexual clubs is “not a matter of choice,” while the Ministry of Education has insisted such clubs cannot help students “reform their sexuality.”
While the Catholic schools have complied by moving to introduce “anti-bullying” clubs focused on sexual orientation, Wynne told Xtra she was “very disappointed” by the refusal of Catholic school boards’ to allow gay-straight alliances. She said, however, that she expects the boards “will all come around.”
“It’s not going away. The expectation is that they will have an equity and inclusive education policy and will allow students to form these groups to have these discussions in every school board in the province,” she said.
Wynne said it is “non-sense” for the Catholic schools to implement clubs that avoid using the term ‘gay’.
“I think that masks a whole issue over, whether certain educators are comfortable with having students express themselves and explore these issues, and where their parents are,” she explained. “And I understand that. I understand that there’s fear. I understand homophobia, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t important that students can explore these issues.”