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TDSB Declares Itself to be a Gay-Straight Alliance

By Hamutal Dotan

20110414gsa.jpg
Members of the Vaughan Road GSA. Photo by Nick Kozak/Torontoist.


In solidarity with students eager to turn their schools into safe spaces for people of all sexual orientations, members of the Toronto District School Board unanimously passed a motion at their meeting last night, declaring the Board itself to be a Gay-Straight Alliance.
The move stands in stark contrast to Catholic school boards in Ontario, which have recently come under fire for their prohibition of GSAs. The issue first started gaining broader public attention this winter, when students in the Halton Catholic District School Board wanted to start a GSA and were shut down. (The HCDSB is instead encouraging participation in what are called By Your SIDE—Safety, Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity—Spaces, which are catch-all equity clubs that do not pertain to the issue of sexual orientation specifically.) Students in Mississauga have also been making recent attempts at starting a GSA, and there seems to be province-wide momentum to continue rallying around this issue—which is viewed as particularly concerning because Catholic school boards in Ontario are provincially funded. Intentionally or not, decisions like the one yesterday by the TDSB are sure to add weight and energy to the campaign against GSA bans in those Catholic schools.

Comments

  • GerrardCoxwell

    I am proud of the TSBD for doing this. Next step: consolidate the two school boards.

  • canuck1975

    I went to the Toronto school board's support program for lesbigay youth way back in the early 90s. It was such a vital program for me that helped me stay somewhat grounded and safe while I was finishing high school (this was before the Triangle Program started).

    This is huge, in my mind, because I went into high schools to talk about being gay and out in high school. On top of that, there was so much resistance at the time for introducing curriculum about human sexuality that seeing the board take a step like this is heartening and unbelievable (in a good way, of course).

  • isyouhappy

    I went to Catholic school and have experienced first hand the institutionalized silence/ bullying the Catholic Board's ban on GSAs does to it's LGBT students, and its straight students as well. To me the point goes beyond not allowing a bunch of students to form a club, it's the fact that the school BANS the word GAY and is publicly funded. Technically we are all funding homophobia through our taxes.

    You should write to the Minster of Education, Leona Dombrosky, the Premier and let them know that you don't stand for publicly funded homophobia.

    ldombrowsky.mpp@liberal.ola.org, dalton@ontario.ca

  • http://www.scotchblog.ca canuck1975

    I went to the Toronto school board's support program for lesbigay youth way back in the early 90s. It was such a vital program for me that helped me stay somewhat grounded and safe while I was finishing high school (this was before the Triangle Program started).

    This is huge, in my mind, because I went into high schools to talk about being gay and out in high school. On top of that, there was so much resistance at the time for introducing curriculum about human sexuality that seeing the board take a step like this is heartening and unbelievable (in a good way, of course).

  • isyouhappy

    I went to Catholic school and have experienced first hand the institutionalized silence/ bullying the Catholic Board's ban on GSAs does to it's LGBT students, and its straight students as well. To me the point goes beyond not allowing a bunch of students to form a club, it's the fact that the school BANS the word GAY and is publicly funded. Technically we are all funding homophobia through our taxes.

    You should write to the Minster of Education, Leona Dombrosky, the Premier and let them know that you don't stand for publicly funded homophobia.

    ldombrowsky.mpp@liberal.ola.org, dalton@ontario.ca