Ontario, CA orders all schools to allow gay-straight alliances

That wonderful sound you just heard was the shrieks of Catholic groups everywhere as the Canadian province of Ontario has just ordered that every school, religious or otherwise, must allow students to form gay-straight alliance clubs if they wish:

Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten said there would be no compromises.

“Schools need to be safe places for kids to be themselves — and for some kids, that means being able to name a club a gay-straight alliance,” Ms. Broten said. “I don’t think there’s anything radical about allowing students to name a club.”

Church sources said they were blindsided and disappointed by the announcement. Cardinal Thomas Collins, the head of the Archdiocese of Toronto, is expected to make a statement on Monday.

The change in the provincial Liberals’ new anti-bullying bill — the Accepting Schools Act — is part of a government initiative to create a “safe and accepting climate” in schools, including Catholic schools, Ms. Broten said.

It’s important to note (as the article doesn’t appear to make clear) that this government rule only applies to publicly funded schools, regardless of religious orientation. Private schools are still more than welcome (so to speak) to be as discriminatory as their bigoted administrators see fit. But it’s always amusing to see religious apologists’ hypocritical privilege exposed whenever they rail against being forced to follow the government’s non-discrimination policies while at the same time happily accepting government funds.

Now counting how long before a fresh howl of outrage from Bill Donohue lands in my inbox.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Tags: Ontario, CA • Catholicism • Catholic Church • gay-straight alliances • GSAs • schools • Laurel Broten