A Teacher Blogs

S. Bear Bergman is a writer, activist, storyteller, and a publisher . He's celebrated for his creative efforts and living his life openly as a trans man. I've read some of his children's books and other writings, and I really enjoy his work. His writing can be funny and sweet, and it can also be edgy and irreverent. Bear wrote a lovely piece for HuffPo called, I Have Come to Indoctrinate Your Children Into My LGBTQ Agenda (And I'm Not a Bit Sorry) . And unless you are a person devoid of humour and imagination, you know that title is a playful bait-and-switch, along the lines of Harvey Milk's I want to recruit you speeches.  This is the indoctrination of which Bear wrote: I am here to tell you: All that time I said I wasn't indoctrinating anyone with my beliefs about gay and lesbian and bi and trans and queer people? That was a lie. All 25 years of my career as an LGBTQ activist, since the very first time as a 16-year-old I went and stood shaking a...

Source: Laverne Cox's Facebook Page On Thursday, March 26th, I took in Laverne Cox 's appearance at Mohawk College in Hamilton. The event was part of Ms Cox's Ain't I a Woman? lecture tour. I purchased "VIP" tickets for myself and a friend to attend a reception and photo op before the event. Ms Cox arrived late to the reception, causing some disruption of the photo op. A line up, formed inside The Arnie pub at Mohawk, was re-directed by staff to an adjacent venue. Overcrowding and poor lighting were the reasons given. I noted that the crowd gathered was larger than the 100 VIP tickets sold. In an odd twist of fate, we started out near the back of the line for photos, and ended up near the front. Laverne and yours truly. Alas, some ticket holders were turned away from the photo op as a result of the delay. Some in attendance were annoyed that we were instructed not to touch or shake hands with Ms Cox. I took no umbrage with this. Such restrictio...

Over the last few years, I've been tracking some of the commentary of Phil Lees , a retired educator, former leader of the moribund The Family Coalition Party of Ontario , and self-described parent rights activist. Mr Lees has spoken extensively about Bill 13 -- The Accepting Schools Act of Ontario (2012) , the 2010/2015 Ontario Ministry of Education Health and Physical Education Curriculum , and the impact of same-sex marriage in Canada, as he sees it. He is particularly fond of telling an anecdote about mock same-sex wedding ceremonies performed in grade three classrooms, and that will be the subject of this open letter to Mr Lees. April 5, 2015 Mr Phil Lees Director Public Education Advocates for Christian Equity 2621 Hwy 56 P.O. Box 306 Binbrook, ON L0R 1C0 Dear Mr Lees, I am writing to you to enquire about comments you've made several times regarding the conducting of mock same-sex wedding ceremonies in Ontario grade three classrooms. You've alluded to this in se...

Back in April 2010, most Ontarians probably didn't know the name Benjamin Levin, who had been the Provincial Deputy Minister of Education during the development of the 2010 Health curriculum. Before that, Dr Levin served as Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and also of Education, Training and Youth from 1999 through 2002 in Manitoba. The OISE -- University of Toronto professor would go on to work on Kathleen Wynne's transition team when she became Premier. That changed in July of 2013, when Levin was arrested by Toronto Police Services, following investigations in London, Ontario and New Zealand. All tolled, Mr Levin was finally charged with seven counts of child exploitation, including charges of possessing and accessing child pornography. Before I proceed, let's be clear. There is indeed a place for moral outrage in this story, and that has to do with Ben Levin's conduct. The charges against Mr Levin are serious and disturbing to anyone with a grain of dece...