Open Letter to Min. Dombrowsky re: GSAs in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board

The Hon. Leona Dombrowsky
Minister of Education
22nd Floor, Mowat Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1L2
ldombrowsky.mpp@liberal.ola.org

Dear Minister Dombrowsky,

Egale Canada is Canada's lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirited, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) human rights organization: advancing equality, diversity, education, and justice. Through our Safe Schools Campaign, we are committed to supporting LGBTQ youth, youth perceived as LGBTQ, youth with LGBTQ parents, other family members, and friends as well as educators, librarians, guidance counsellors, education support workers, parents, and administrators and to helping make Canadian schools safer and more inclusive, respectful, and welcoming learning and working environments for all members of school communities.

According to Egale's report Every class in every school: The first national climate survey on homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in Canadian schools (2011),

• Two-thirds of LGBTQ students feel unsafe at school.
• Over two thirds (70.4%) of all students heard homophobic expressions such as "that's so gay" every day in school.
• 51% of LGBTQ students have been verbally harassed about their sexual orientation and 21% have been physically harassed or assaulted about their sexual orientation.
• Almost three-quarters (74%) of trans youth have been verbally harassed about their gender expression and more than a third (37%) have been physically harassed or assaulted about their gender.
• 45% of youth with LGBTQ parents have been sexually harassed at school; over a quarter have been physically harassed or assaulted about the sexual orientation of their parents (27%) and their own perceived sexual orientation or gender identity (27%).
• Almost half (48%) of youth of colour, both LGBTQ and heterosexual, reported not knowing of any teachers or other school staff members who are supportive of LGBTQ students; only half (53%) would be very comfortable talking about LGBTQ matters even with a close friend.

Unfortunately, because Catholic school boards abstained from participating in the survey, there are no specific findings about school climates for LGBTQ youth, youth perceived as LGBTQ, and youth with LGBTQ parents, other family members, and friends in Catholic schools in Canada:

Although we discussed implementation with officials from several Catholic divisions who were clearly interested in participating, they were instructed not to participate by their governing Bishops' councils, apparently on the grounds that generic safe schools policies protect all students equally, and that Catholic schools should not be involved in activities that affirm the viability of a "homosexual lifestyle," such as filling out a homophobia survey. As a result, we do not have enough participants from Catholic school boards to be able to report on the situation there with the same high level of confidence that we have in the findings of the rest of this report. There is nothing in the data that we do have to suggest that the situation facing LGBTQ students and students with LGBTQ parents in Catholic schools is better than in non-Catholic schools, and much to suggest that it is even worse.

One way that this seems to be the case in Ontario is the explicit or implicit bans some Catholic schools and school boards have against students forming Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Every class in every school defines GSAs in the following way:

GSAs are official student clubs with LGBTQ and heterosexual student membership and typically one or two teachers who serve as faculty advisors. Students in a school with a GSA know that they have at least one or two adults they can talk to about LGBTQ matters. The purpose of GSAs is to provide a much-needed safe space in which LGBTQ students and allies can work together on making their schools more welcoming for sexual and gender minority students. Some GSAs go by other names such as Rainbow Clubs, Human Rights Clubs, or Social Justice Clubs. This is sometimes done to signal openness to non-LGBTQ membership (though, of course, some of these are not GSAs and might not address homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia), and sometimes because "Gay-Straight Alliance" seems problematic in that "gay" does not necessarily refer to lesbians or bisexuals and trans identities are not explicitly encompassed by the expression. However, using the acronym "GSA" to represent any student group concerned with LGBTQ matters has become commonplace. Very often it is LGBTQ students themselves who initiate the GSA, although sometimes a teacher will come forward. Such groups also function as safe havens and supports for youth with LGBTQ parents.

One of the recommendations coming out of Every class in every school is "That schools strongly support the efforts of students to start GSAs, or similar LGBTQ-inclusive student-led clubs, and that in schools where students have not come forward, administration should ask teachers to offer to work with students to start such clubs. It is not safe to assume that LGBTQ students and students with LGBTQ parents would prefer to go through school isolated from their peers and teachers." (For more information on the First National School Climate Survey, see MyGSA.ca/YouthSpeakUp.)

On Oct. 19, 2009, Ontario's Ministry of Education issued a policy in support of GSAs: Policy/Program Memorandum No. 145, Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour states, "Boards must also help school staff to give support to students who wish to participate in gay-straight alliances and in other student-led activities that promote understanding and development of healthy relationships."

Amidst the clamour about the fact that a number of Catholic school boards in Ontario-including the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB)-are flagrantly disregarding the Ministry of Education's mandate regarding supporting GSAs in all publicly funded schools, during yesterday's Question Period Premier McGuinty openly stated that "boards can find different ways to ensure that they adhere to those policies."

What the DPCDSB is actually doing, however, not only contravenes this particular policy, but also blatantly violates the province's Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy of which Premier McGuinty is so proud, and deservedly so. For example, its Vision is "To achieve an equitable and inclusive school climate, school boards and schools will strive to ensure that all members of the school community feel safe, comfortable, and accepted. We want all staff and students to value diversity and to demonstrate respect for others and a commitment to establishing a just, caring society."

Premier McGuinty further stated, "In grade 5, students are taught that homophobic and racist remarks are wrong and hurtful. In grade 7, students are taught the importance of challenging others whose actions or words could be interpreted as being racist or homophobic." Perhaps someone needs to repeat these grades because the DPCDSB is both disallowing GSAs and endorsing Courage Toronto, a group that pathologizes same-sex attraction.

In a public statement about Courage International (of which Courage Toronto is one of six Canadian chapters), 16 year-old Leanne Iskander, the student who was denied her request to start a GSA at St. Joseph's Catholic Secondary School in the DPCDSB, said, "I find that website kind of offensive because they are the opposite of supportive-they try and cure you of your homosexuality. The Catholic Church is totally outdated on this."

Courage International is based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and applies them to being LGBTQ, which it archaically calls the generally offensive term "homosexuality" instead. As such, the "Twelve Steps of Courage" begins, "We admitted that we were powerless over homosexuality and our lives had become unmanageable." It continues with references to "the exact nature of our wrongs," "defects of our character," "shortcomings," "persons we had harmed," and, notably, a restoration of "sanity."

This is problematic in so many ways, especially with regard to the implication that LGBTQ youth are not sane. And yet this group is being recommended as a suitable alternative to forming GSAs to youth who are approaching their administrators out of a need for support and acceptance because they either are LGBTQ or have loved ones who are LGBTQ.

Further, Courage International not only provides a link to NARTH (the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality), but it also devotes a section to NARTH's publication "Living in Truth: A Research Report about Psychological Treatment." Although Courage International claims not to be an "Ex-Gay Ministry" (because "Many Courage members have never labelled themselves 'gay' prior to coming to Courage," according to its Frequently Asked Questions), the NARTH publication page opens with the following statement:

This article brings forward evidence to support the idea that some people can through therapy find to varying degrees success in moving to overcome the homosexual condition.

This NARTH publication was released in 1997-24 years after the American Psychiatric Association removed "homosexuality" from its list of mental disorders and 15 years after the Canadian Psychiatric Association did the same. The World Health Organization followed suit in 1990 in the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases, known as the ICD-10. In fact, the claims being put forward by NARTH about "homosexuality" inspired the American Psychological Association (APA) to make this public statement in 2006:

For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA's concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.

One of the supposedly suitable alternatives being suggested by administrators to Catholic students wanting to form GSAs is to go to an organization that espouses information that has been discredited due to the fact that it promotes prejudice and discrimination.

Not only does this go against Ontario's Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy, it also contradicts the DPCDSB's own policy.

Although the DPCDSB's Equity and Inclusive Education Policy was unavailable via the Safe Schools section of their website when this went to press, the DPCDSB has a Bullying Prevention Policy (last revised Jan. 26, 2010) that explicitly includes both sexual orientation and gender identity in the following statement:

The Board considers harassment on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnicity, culture, citizenship, ancestry, origin, religion, creed, family status, socio-economic status, disability and/or any other immutable characteristic or ground protected by the Human Rights Code unacceptable and supports the use of positive practices to prevent such behaviour and authorizes principals, or their delegates, to impose consequences in appropriate circumstances, up to and including a referral to the Discipline Committee of the Board for expulsion from all schools.

The fact that the DPCDSB is disallowing GSAs and promoting Courage International conflicts with this DPCDSB policy statement in two ways:

1. This policy recognizes protected grounds, such as sexual orientation and gender identity, as "immutable" characteristics, whereas disregarding any type of "gay" identity is part of both the official argument being used by the DPCDSB against having explicitly-named GSAs in Catholic schools and Courage International's official stance. (See its Frequently Asked Questions for more information.)
2. This policy "supports the use of positive practices to prevent such behaviour" as harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, whereas the DPCDSB is instead promoting the decidedly negative practice of identifying as lacking "sanity" through endorsing Courage International and also preventing the positive practice of forming GSAs.

Egale's report Every class in every school: The first national climate survey on homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in Canadian schools states the following about GSAs: "Students from schools with GSAs are much more likely to agree that their school communities are supportive of LGBTQ people, are much more likely to be open with some or all of their peers about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and are more likely to see their school climate as becoming less homophobic."

Madam Minister, take pride in your exemplary Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy and its supporting policies by showing a principled stance and fully implementing them in all of Ontario's publicly-funded schools.

Sincerely,

Helen Kennedy
Executive Director
Egale Canada
helen_kennedy@egale.ca

Egale Canada ©2011

Canada's LGBT human rights organization: advancing equality, diversity, education, and justice.