Advertisement

News

Susan G. Cole on PC sex panic and Grit retreat

The Tories have lost it this campaign. Check out the way they’re scaremongering over sex education. A few Tory MPP candidates have been using existing Toronto District School Board initiatives to paint the Liberals as sexual libertines ready to corrupt Ontario youth.

But don’t count on a Conservative defeat to clear the air when it comes to giving kids sound info about their bodies and promoting sexual-orientation equity.

Tories have been misleading voters when it comes to sex ed. Flyers similar to the homophobic and transphobic ad by stopcorruptingchildren.ca run in the National Post were distributed by Brampton West PC hopeful Ben Shenouda and in Willowdale by Vince Agovino, revealing the anti-sex terror underpinning Ontario PC values. Leader Tim Hudak supports these tactics.

The pamphlets grossly distort anti-homophobia and trans-sensitive initiatives that don’t fall into the category of sex ed at all. Looks like every time right-wing repressives hear the word “gay” or “homosexual,” all they can visualize is sex.

For the record, equity policy is not the same as sex education.

But here’s the irony: as easy as it is to dump on the PCs, the worst of it is the craven way the Grits retreated from their sex ed action plan in the first place. Famous fundamentalist Charles McVety and his gang stirred up a strong backlash, but did Dalton McGuinty and Education Minister Kathleen Wynne have to back down from the plan run up the flagpole in 2010?

This is not leadership. This is being led around by the nose and letting fundamentalists hold the stick.

The Grits haven’t said a thing about reworking the plan in this election. They can’t hide for long. The Toronto District Catholic School Board is on a collision course with the Ontario government, refusing to grant high school students the right to organize Gay-Straight Alliances.

Late in August, the TDCSB passed an amendment to its own policy “giving religious morals and principles precedence over the equity policy (which supports GSAs) mandated by the province.”

Will the Tories stand up to the Catholic School Board? I laugh. The NDP supports Gay-Straight Alliances. But the Liberals? If the past is any indication, they’ll bail. Tragic. The province’s kids deserve better.

susanc@nowtoronto.com

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted