B.C.'s New Democrats are calling on the Premier Christy Clark to fight homophobia and transphobia in British Columbia schools in the midst of an ongoing controversy over the Burnaby school board's new anti-homophobia policy.
"The premier has been touting an anti-bullying agenda, but has yet to take action to protect victims of bullying across this province," said Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore. "When the Burnaby School Board was under attack for standing up to homophobia in their schools, Christy Clark passed it off as a 'local issue' and missed an opportunity to take some leadership with a province-wide policy."
Elmore pointed out that 13 of 60 school districts have policies protecting students from homophobia and transphobia.
"That's unacceptable," said Elmore. "It shouldn't matter where a child lives, who they are or who their parents are - they should feel safe at school."
Spencer Chandra Herbert, Vancouver-West End MLA, called for safe schools for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, queer) youth, and for transgender British Columbians to be explicitly protected in our Human Rights Code.
"As we celebrate Pride, this is the perfect time for the Liberal government to finally show some leadership, stop avoiding the tough issues, and bring in a province-wide policy to protect vulnerable children from homophobic and transphobic bullying in our schools, just as we have done with racism," he said.
According to a report from Egale Canada, an LGBT human rights organization, almost 64 per cent of LGBTQ students reported that they feel unsafe at school.
Parents' Voice, the ad hoc group opposed to the Burnaby school board's anti-homophobia policy, drew up a petition and gathered roughly 5,000 signatures. The group described the petition as putting "Premier Christy Clark and the B.C. government on notice that discrimination against children and violation of parental and religious rights and freedoms will not be tolerated in B.C. - even if it is camouflaged as an 'anti-bullying' measure." Parents' Voice presented Clark with the petition, but she declined to step in the fray.
