A Teacher Blogs

A month ago I posted about  a speech given by Peel District School Board director Tony Pontes, stating his board's position on the updated Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum. Peel, like Toronto, had been the focus of parent protests against portions of the curriculum dealing with Human Development and Sexual Health. Mr Pontes, whose speech was quoted in the Toronto Star , was adamant: “We cannot — we will not — by action or inaction endorse discrimination,” said Pontes, who cited Ontario’s Human Rights Code as applying to people of all sexual orientation and gender identity. “Supported by legal opinion, bolstered by our core values, I would no more say yes to someone wanting a child excluded because of a discussion about LGBTQ than I would a discussion about race or gender.”   And now, Toronto enters the fray. The Toronto neighbourhood of Thorncliffe Park has seen, without a doubt, the highest concentration of parent protest against the curriculum. The first...

It was a soggy Sunday, June 28th, this past summer when I met the Premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne. We were at the annual Toronto Pflag Pride Brunch, which takes place the morning of the Toronto Pride Parade, capping the nine-day festival. I was actually very excited to meet Ms Wynne; although I have never voted Liberal federally or provincially and harbour reservations about the Liberal Government. As well, in the last three years, relations between the federations that represent public educators, like me, and the Province have been quite strained . I was happy to meet her nonetheless. Yours truly and Premier Wynne. June 28, 2015. Having introduced myself, I began: "Premier, I'm an elementary teacher, and I know we've had our differences, but that's for another time. I want to tell you now as a teacher, a parent, and a member of the LGBT community how proud and grateful I am that you have stood firm on launching the 2015 Health and Physical Education curric...

For the last few days I've been volunteering at PrideHouseTO , which operates out of Toronto's 519 Church Street Community Centre , during the run of the 2015 Pan Am Games . The PrideHouse movement began with the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, when Pride organizers in Whistler thought international visitors might enjoy their local festivities. The idea took off, and every multi-sport international games since has hosted a PrideHouse, with the notable exception of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi .  My normal shift involves either photographing or live-tweeting events at the pavilion. Today, one of the volunteer managers asked me if I'd like to take in an event called #HUDDLE2015, at Isabel Bader Theatre, which included pairs figure skater Eric Radford  and former collegiate track athlete and VP of You Can Play , Anna Aagenes . Headlining the event mixed martial arts competitor Fallon Fox was there, the first out Trans* fighter in the sp...

...was about an hour ago . I  wasn't doing anything particularly queer at the time -- unless you count deadheading marigolds while wearing a shirt with a rainbow coloured heart that reads  Kill it with Kindness  across the front. Oh, and I had on that Egale Human Rights Trust rainbow wristband. And the shirt. And, of course, I was gardening. I used to hear that word all the time -- daily in fact -- a little over forty years ago in an all-boys Catholic middle school. That word and "queer," "fairy," and "gay boy," pretty much everyday for two years. It was mostly because I stood out: soft spoken, polite to teachers, Protestant (in name only), good at drama and music, and bad at sports.  The last one was a killer: Not only was I bad at hockey and football in a school that was as passionate about sports as it was about Catholicism; I had the temerity not to particularly care.  That's right. A red-blooded Ca...

Today is The International Day Against Homphobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. The occasion was honoured this past Friday, above Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall. If you've never heard of IDAHOTB, don't feel too bad. The observance has only been around since 2005, after 24,000 individuals and several LGBT organizations had signed an appeal to support the " IDAHO Initiative " the year before. In 2009 IDAHO became IDAHOT, and just this year, it became IDAHOTB. So, the "B" is new, and the "O" is optional, so you can imagine the confusion some of us had hash-tagging our Tweets.  Celebrated annually on May 17th, this year's IDAHOTB marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the removal of homosexuality as a mental health disorder by the World Health Organization. According to the IDAHOTB central website, "May 17 is now celebrated in more than 130 countries, including 37 where same-sex acts are illegal, with 1600 events reported f...

My old neighbourhood growing up, Thorncliffe Park, in the former East York, has become ground-zero in the controversy over Ontario's 2015 Health and Physical Education curriculum. The first day of a one-week strike saw 90% of some 1300 children in North America's largest K-5 school absent at the behest of their parents. Instead of being in the school, many were out front holding signs decrying "irresponsible" sex education and chanting "We Say No!" -- all of this in an effort to preserve their childhood innocence. Some children then accompanied the adults to Premier Kathleen Wynne's constituency office a few kilometres away for more of the same; while others were paraded in front of Queen's Park. But it is the behaviour of the adults I would like to discuss today. We'll start with the organizer of the Thorncliffe Park spectacle Khalid Mahmood, head of the Thorncliffe Parents' Association . Mr Mahmood is a past chair of the school council...

1950s Sex Education LP Recording I was reading up on some of the groups that participated in the April 14th My Child My Choice protest against the Ontario's 2015 Health and Physical Education Curriculum. A group calling themselves The Well Informed Parent caught my eye. From their website:  "We are parents representing parents. We have drawn on the considerable skill sets of many parents - such as educators, lawyers, concerned parents and medical professionals. That way we can be well equipped to make informed decisions in regards to our children's education and well-being." To this end, The Well Informed Parent has come up with alternatives to contested components of Human Development and Sexual Health   and other sections of the curriculum at various grades. To summarize, here are the most hotly contest contested components, as reported back in 2010 by Kathryn Blaze Carlson for the National Post : Grade 1: Identify body parts, including genitalia (pe...