“Respecting differences” clubs at NCDSB

LGBT students attending Catholic schools in Niagara will not be allowed to form Gay-Straight Alliances, said a new decision from the Ontario Catholic School Board Trustees Association in response to calls that they rescind the ban. Instead, schools will make "respecting differences" clubs available – meant to combat discrimination in general.

"The Board recognizes that any form of social or cultural discrimination is incompatible with Catholic moral principles," said the Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) in its Equity and Inclusive Education Policy.

"The Board recognizes that the school system gives pre-eminence to the tenets of the Catholic faith, congruent with the protection afforded in the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Constitution Act [of] 1982 and confirmed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

The plight of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) students became a topic of international attention after a large number of seemingly-unrelated students — all either LGBT or assumed to be so — committed suicide in late 2011. The coverage prompted several schools to allow Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to open on their campuses. According to a 2008 report from the Suicide Prevention Center, LGBT students are between three and four times more likely to have attempted suicide than their heterosexual peers.

"Research shows that gender-based violence, homophobia, sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behaviour are serious issues with far-reaching consequences to individuals," said a report from the Ontario Government.

"It is our collective responsibility to put safeguards in place to ensure that our schools are safe places to learn and work."

GSAs act as support groups and safe areas where students can go to be around like-minded classmates. They have also been a hot-button topic – with both parents and administrators frequently opposing them. The NCDSB has placed a ban on them, saying that they do not want "advocacy groups" on their campuses, and arguing the GSAs are in opposition to the Catholic faith.

"Ideally, GSAs should offer students a safe space where they can seek support or be provided with resources that may otherwise be unavailable to them," said Aimée Wright, President of Brock Pride – Brock University's equivalent of a GSA.

"I've known I was a lesbian since the tender age of 12. So obviously, when I was enrolled in Catholic school, it was hard knowing that there was no support system there for me, nor would there ever be."

Though several NCDSB employees were contacted for this article, none agreed to comment.

According to Rebecca Raby, a Brock University Professor of Child and Youth Studies, the absence of GSAs in Catholic schools — even with the "respecting differences" clubs in place — can have a very harmful effect on LGBT youth. Without a dedicated support group, she said, LGBT students can often be left ostracised.

"We have already seen the effects of the Catholic School Board's disinterest in improving support for queer students," said Raby, referring to a study from the LGBT advocacy group Egale Canada, which found that 73 per cent of LGBT students "feel unsafe" while at school.

"My wish is for the Catholic Church to embrace its LGBT members rather than marginalizing them."

According to Raby, the clubs might still be able to serve their purpose if the students recognized them as "code" for GSAs and treated them as such. However, this would likely require there to already be a "particularly out and active" group of LGBT students at the school – without which the clubs would likely become swamped with other issues and become unable to help the school's LGBT population.

"We already have all sorts of groups at schools that support students' special interests," Raby said.

"I can see LGBT people going to a ‘respecting differences' club and feeling very isolated."

Wright echoed this fear – saying that the decision to continue the ban on GSAs amounted to a failure on the NCDSB's part to protect the health and safety of its students.

"These students need to know that there is nothing wrong with them," said Wright, "that they are not alone and that there is help out there, should they need it."