Can they use the word “gay?” Are rainbows okay?
Two weeks before classes begin, Ontario Catholic schools still don’t know what to call the anti-homophobia clubs they now must allow, because an advisory group has been too torn on the issue this summer to agree on guidelines.
A provincial committee of about a dozen students, parents, teachers, trustees, and clergy has been trying since May to hammer out a “framework” for clubs for victims of bullying because of sexual orientation — but has been unable to agree in time for September because of the range of views among Catholics themselves, said the head of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association.
“It’s been a struggle; we want to have groups to help these students so they don’t feel suicide is the only option — suicide rates among homosexual young people are higher — but some people get caught up worrying that we’re going to forget about our Gospel teachings, and cause panic, so it’s taking longer than expected,” said association president Nancy Kirby.
The committee has been trying to strike a balance between the Vatican’s stand against the homosexual act, and its acceptance of all people, including homosexuals, as children of God. Some parents at a number of Catholic school boards have said they fear anti-homophobia clubs could lead Catholic schools to promote homosexuality.
But Kirby said this is not the case.
“These are definitely not meant to be political action groups, and Catholic schools already teach students that the church does not approve of premarital sex of any kind; heterosexual or homosexual,” said Kirby. “But the Catholic church also teaches that we love each other and treat each other with respect, no matter your sexual orientation.”
It’s a political balancing act that reflects growing tension between a public school system that requires anti-homophobia measures, and its publicly funded Catholic system that follows the teachings of the Catholic church.
Some Catholic schools in the Greater Toronto area came under fire last spring for refusing to allow students to create clubs with “gay” or “rainbow” in their name for fear it strayed from the church stand against gay sex.
But Catholic students persuaded both trustees and the clergy that such clubs are needed to support students suffering from bullying because they are gay, said Kirby. As a result, the Catholic trustees’ association and the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario told Catholic schools in April they must let students form groups to support victims of homophobic bullying, but stopped short of allowing the name “gay-straight alliances” or “rainbow clubs.” Instead, they struck a committee to draft the blueprint for these groups — including their name — by the fall, but Kirby said that timeline may have been a bit ambitious for such a complex task.
The trustees’ association sent a memo this week to all Catholic school boards reminding them to let students start such clubs as long as they don't contradict Catholic teachings, and noting what these clubs should be called or how they will operate will come later this fall.
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