Vancouver couple's seven-year fight leads to settlement with Ministry of Education, attorney general The provincial government has agreed to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues in school curricula to settle a longstanding human rights complaint filed by a Vancouver couple.

B.C. schools to cover gay issues. Vancouver couple's seven-year fight leads to settlement with Ministry of Education, attorney general

Darah Hansen, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, June 01, 2006


VANCOUVER -- The provincial government has agreed to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues in school curricula to settle a longstanding human rights complaint filed by a Vancouver couple.

Under the terms of the settlement reached with Murray and Peter Corren this week, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Attorney General agreed to launch a review of the entire B.C. curricula to ensure that classroom discussions around diversity include sexual orientation and gender identity issues, as well as race, ethnicity and gender equality. In return, the Correns will drop a complaint they filed with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 1999 alleging systemic sexual discrimination in B.C. classrooms.

Murray Corren, a Coquitlam teacher, said he and Peter are "very happy" with the terms reached. Corren said part of the settlement will include development of an elective social justice course for Grade 12 students, which will address legal, political, ethical and economic perspectives that inform Canadian concepts of justice, equality and equity. The course will include topics such as race, ethnicity, gender, family structure and sexual orientation, he said.

He expects the course to be tested in schools in the 2007-08 school year, with full implementation the following year. Corren said the settlement will also make it more difficult for students and parents to opt out of course lessons that address topics pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity. Corren said the settlement is a victory for students, parents, teachers and families who aren't heterosexual.

"They have been silenced and invisible for years," he said. "This [settlement] now says this silence and invisibility must stop." "We're very proud that the B.C. [government] has seen fit to launch this process," Corren said. Attorney General Wally Oppal confirmed Wednesday an agreement has been reached with the Correns, putting an end to their human rights complaint.

Oppal's ministry was involved in shaping the new social justice course, which he described as "progressive." He said it is part of the government's mandate to recognize diversity in the province, whether that involves issues of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. "I think it's a fair settlement. We listened to their [the Correns'] complaints and we decided there was some merit in what they were suggesting," Oppal said.

He said he hopes the settlement will be accepted by British Columbians. "I hope that we are a mature enough society ... and that there is an understanding that there is a place for this in our curriculum." Murray Corren said he believes the time is right for discussions around sexual orientation to be accepted in the classroom.

K-John Cheung, a member of the conservative advocacy group, the Canadian Alliance for Social Justice and Family Values Association, said Wednesday he is anxious to hear specifics of the government's agreement with the Correns. Cheung said the association -- whose members have been vocal opponents to sex-same marriage and the inclusion of the sexual orientation as a hate crime under the criminal code -- was aware of the Correns' complaint, but have had no direct involvement in the tribunals' proceedings.

"Our understanding is the complainants were trying to put something into the curriculum praising homosexual achievement and contribution to society," he said, adding his group is opposed to that idea on the grounds that a person's sexual orientation is not important when mentioned in that specific context.

Cheung said the group is not opposed to discussions of homosexuality in schools at higher grade levels such as Grades 11 or 12. At that age, students "are sufficiently mature and conversant with what is going on," he said.

Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006

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Alternative sexuality classes ruled obligatory - Times Colonist, June 23, 2008

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver board of education says it plans to enforce a ministry policy that prevents parents from pulling students out of classes that deal with alternative sexuality.

A recent staff recommendation from the Vancouver board of education says parents can pull their children out of sensitive lessons in health classes because of religious or family beliefs, but can't exempt their children from gay-friendly lessons in other classes.

The recommendation, released Friday, sets out detailed guidelines and procedures the district intends to distribute to schools.

"We're expected to do that by the [Education] Ministry, so it's not something we've initiated of our own volition," said Ken Denike, a Vancouver school board trustee.

According to ministry guidelines, students can opt out of only 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.

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.

Comment: It appears the only way you can pull your children out of these gay indoctrination sessions is by home schooling your children - so don't be surprised if they start making such people out to be terrorists or the like.

 

By Gudrun Schultz

SCOTLAND, UK, May 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Scottish schoolchildren will soon be hearing about how to engage in "safe" homosexual activity, and getting advice on same-sex relationships, from their teachers.

The Scotsman reported Sunday on the coming release of a new set of official guidelines that includes homosexuality in school sex education programs.

The new material will include information on male and female condoms for protection against sexually transmitted diseases, advice on the "emotional" side of homosexual relationships, and contact information for homosexual health services and support groups.

Laws preventing the promotion of homosexuality in Scotland's schools were overturned in 2000, despite strong opposition from the public and Church officials. A referendum conducted by a group opposed to the law change questioned over one million voters. Over 85% were opposed to the change.

Health officials pushed for the inclusion of the new material in the Sexual Health and Relationships Education program, saying the existing guidelines were "heterosexist" and did not reflect the current social climate.

Opponents have issued strong statements against the introduction of the material. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said, "Before SHARE is updated, we should be seeing results in terms of a reduction in teenage conceptions, sexually transmitted infections and abortions. All the indications are that these have actually got worse."

"To quite graphically equip children with information about same-sex relationships is appalling, outrageous and utterly unnecessary. Where was it decreed that every aspect of human sexuality has to be addressed in the school curriculum?"

Dr. Alastair Noble, education officer of Christian Charity Care for Scotland, said, "We would be concerned if SHARE's material showed any significant departure from the current advice which underlines the need for sex education to emphasise the importance of stable family life and the importance of marriage. There's a fine line between providing appropriate information and promoting homosexuality in a way that encourages experimentation."

Shirley Fraser, health improvement programme manager for Health Scotland, admitted the material was originally written in 2000, when the laws preventing homosexual promotion in the schools were first removed, but she said the material might have "been going too far at that point" for some people.

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Scotland's Sex Education Not Working
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/oct/05101206.html

Homosexual Men Allowed to Foster Young Boys Despite Abuse Evidence Convicted of Sexual Abuse

 

by Hilary White

PONTEFRACT, UK, May 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two homosexual men who volunteered to be foster parents to troubled children were convicted of multiple counts of sexual molestation of their charges. Ian Wathey, 40, and Craig Faunch, 32 were convicted of molesting and filming eight-year-old twins and two 14 year-old boys placed in their care by the Wakefield council.

The council is being criticized for having failed to act after accusations of abuse were made against the two men. The twin boys mother, identified only as "Mrs X," complained when she found suggestive photographs of her sons. An inquiry by social workers, however, cleared the now-convicted paedophiles and police were not called in.

The Telegraph quotes Kitty Ferris, speaking for the council, who said the men's applications had been approved "in accordance with statutory requirements and council policy."

The mother of one of the boys is suing the Wakefield Council and Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett has joined calls for an investigation. A total of 19 boys were placed with Wathey and Faunch since they were approved in 2003.

Mrs. X said she was shocked that social services failed to respond to the warning signs. "You just don't do that," she said. "You just don't take pictures of kids with no clothes on. Why would they want a picture of my son like that unless it's for something mucky."

Police found homosexual pornography featuring young adolescents in the men's house that they shared with the foster boys. One film featured a group of older men performing sex acts with young males. One of the couple's teenage victims claims he was made to watch one of these films while Wathey sexually abused him.

Describing the abuse, one of the victims said, "It hurt. Afterwards, I said 'Pack it in now,' and then I went to bed. I was gutted. I didn't want anything to do with anyone else. All I could do was sit there and cry."

On the application to become foster "carers" the two men specified that they wanted boys aged five to twelve but only two of the boys they cared for were in that age group, the rest were teenagers.

Social services in Wakefield were identified in a recent report as being among the worst in the country in a scathing report published in 2001. The Joint Review by the Audit Commission and the Social Services Inspectorate said the department was failing the city's most vulnerable people.

David Holmes, Chief Executive of The British Association for Adoption and Fostering, said it was important not to confuse the sexuality of the carers with committing sex crimes against children.

In Britain, as in Canada, anti-discrimination laws prevent social workers or parents from objecting to potential foster parents on the basis of their sexual 'orientation.'
 

Teacher fails girl for stand on 'gays'
Students told not to discuss assignment about 'homosexual colony' with parents

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Posted: October 7, 2006 5:00 p.m. Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52344

Fly me to the moon? No thanks, said a 13-year-old girl who refused, because of her faith, to write an assignment for her health and physical education class about being the only heterosexual in a lunar colony with 10 homosexuals.

The class at Windaroo Valley State High School, made up of 13- and 14-year-old girls, was given the scenario and told to answer 10 questions, including how it felt to be a "minority" and what they would do to cope with their situation. They were also told to discuss where ideas about homosexuality came from.

While many of the students were uncomfortable with the assignment or said they didn't understand the questions, one girl instantly refused because of her religious faith.

"It is against my beliefs and I am not going there," she told the teacher.

For this, she was given her first-ever failing grade in a health and physical education class.

According to the Brisbane Sunday Mail of Australia, students were told that details of the assignment were to remain in class and they weren't to discuss it with their parents.

"I went to the school thinking there might have been a personality clash with the teacher," said the teen's mother, who only learned of the assignment after her report card was sent home.

"When I started to read it I thought, 'Oh my God' ... I was shocked by the content," she said of the assignment.

"My daughter said she didn't want to do the assignment because she did not believe in homosexuality and did not want to answer the questions. She was being challenged, but she should not be challenged like that at her age."

The mother was told it would be better if she withdrew her daughter from the public school system and enrolled her in private school.

Jeff Seeney

"It's no wonder our kids are struggling with the basics when the government is allowing this sort of rubbish to be taught in the classroom," Queensland, Australia Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney said.

The government "has created a system that tries to tell kids what to think instead of teaching them how to think," he said. "It is completely out of line for students to be graded on their moral beliefs. It's not the job of our schools to politicize our children. It is their function to provide our kids with the basics, like reading, writing and math."

The revelation of "faith-based grading" came to light in the same week Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop announced plans to take control of the schools from Australia's separate states.

The state education systems, she told a history teachers' conference, had been hijacked by leftist "ideologues" promoting ideas "straight from Chairman Mao."

Regarding Windaroo Valley's homosexuals-on-the-moon assignment, Bishop said it was one more reason to be concerned about Australia's schools.

"This is another example of a politically-correct agenda masquerading as curriculum," she said. "Parents need to know the content of school curriculum so they can be confident their children are receiving a high quality education that is also consistent with their values."

"Knowing the content," said the girl's mother, was precisely what Windaroo Valley High did not seem to want, noting that school officials seemed more concerned about how parents learned of the assignment than her daughter's religious beliefs.

"That's what concerns me most ... the parents had no opportunity to even see the assignment," she said.

Upon questioning by the Daily Mail, a spokeswoman for Queensland's public education system said the school had decided to drop the assignment from the curriculum and would work with the family for a "satisfactory resolution."

"The aim of the assignment was to encourage students to think about diversity, culture and belief systems," she said. "Schools can offer alternative assessment topics in consultation with parents, if the school is aware of concerns about an assignment."

That should be good news for one 13-year-old girl at Windaroo Valley High where the school's website makes this promise:

"Ultimately we offer choice, opportunity and potential. There is something for everyone with new additions being made every year to enhance our progressive curriculum. We want students to be happy."