Pride Week In Toronto......Pride Day In Vancouver

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

No skipping homosexual classes, Canadian schools tell parents

Not every parent wants her child to learn about gays and transgender sexuality in school. However, the Vancouver board of education plans to enforce a ministry policy that prevents parents from pulling students out of classes that deal with alternative sexuality, the Vancouver Sun reports.

A staff recommendation released Friday from the board says parents can pull their children out of sensitive lessons in health classes because of religious or family beliefs, but can't opt their children out of gay-friendly lessons in any other classes:

According to ministry guidelines, students can only opt out of the health portions of Health and Career Education K to 7, Health and Career Education 8 and 9, and Planning 10.

They aren't exempt from the lessons completely and must learn the material outside the classroom setting, by home instruction or self-directed studies. They also have to prove they've learned the material.

The recommendation has the Catholic Civil Rights League, for one, to balk. The league has long fought the policies, claiming parents have the right to remove children from any classes they find objectionable:

Edward Da Vita, a spokesman for the Catholic Civil Rights League, said he would prefer parents be able to pull their children out of any class containing controversial material.

"The problem now is that controversial subject matter can be brought up any time, anywhere, and there is no reasonable alternative delivery available for that," he said.

Source