(LifeSiteNews) –– June has begun, and thus in Canada the full-scale celebration of the LGBT movement know as “Pride Month” has also kicked off. Well, it used to be the “LGBT movement” – as anyone who reads the news will know, that acronym is expanding ever outwards.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in his congratulatory message to the LGBT movement, was sure to refer to the “2SLGBTQIA+ community,” a moniker so long he actually had to take a breath partway through. Ford, as you may know, leads the Progressive Conservative government. He will be attending the York Pride Parade.
When it comes to the LGBT agenda, it doesn’t really matter who runs the government anymore. The Toronto District School Board (TDCSB) is all-in on celebrating the LGBT community, and in response to some parents keeping their children out of school during “pride” events across the province, schools are taking measures to ensure that these events can carry on with parental knowledge.
Former high school teacher and board trustee candidate Chantal Pfahl reported on one of these events yesterday: “Tomorrow at the TDSB, one high school is hosting >250 students from about 20 GSAs across the TDSB for a ‘Pride Ball’ featuring drag queens etc. $15 to get out of class for the afternoon to attend, no parental consent required.”
Tomorrow at the TDSB, one high school is hosting >250 students from about 20 GSAs across the TDSB for a “Pride Ball” featuring drag queens etc.
$15 to get out of class for the afternoon to attend, no parental consent required.
Teachers are told: “Due to safety considerations… pic.twitter.com/4n4enwBoVr
— Chanel Pfahl 🇨🇦 (@ChanLPfa) June 1, 2023
A “GSA” is a “Gay-Straight Alliance club,” and according to Pfahl, teachers are being told that “due to safety considerations for students, please share information about Pride Ball with students by word of mouth ONLY.”
As Pfahl noted, there are plenty of other LGBT events being organized by the Toronto District School Board, as well:
The TDSB GSA Network has lots of pride events listed and detailed on their website, but there is no info provided for this particular event. There is only mention of it in the description of a different event: “[…] food and drinks after the ball!” pic.twitter.com/qxh0WvQ0MW
— Chanel Pfahl 🇨🇦 (@ChanLPfa) June 1, 2023
The LGBT agenda has been so thoroughly implemented throughout the public school system that it is no longer news that a school board would be hosting a “Pride Ball” featuring drag queens for students – instead, it is a news story when parents decline to send their children to such events in the first place.
CTV News, for example, ran this headline on June 1: “Some Ottawa parents keep kids home from school due to Pride activities, OCDSB says.” Their opening line: “As the rainbow flag flew at schools across Ottawa on Thursday, the public school board says some parents kept their children home from school due to possible Pride activities.”
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board have announced that the LGBT flag will be flying not only at all of their schools, but also their board offices – but many parents are clearly not on board, with Ottawa’s public school board noting that nine of its schools had absentee rates of over 40% on June 1 – with two schools having an absentee rate of over 60%.
UPDATE (05/30/23): Major victory as York Catholic District School Board votes against raising LGBT flag
Your committment to this campaign has paid off – please continue circulating the petition far and wide, and read below about our huge victory at YCDSB thanks to people like you.
(LifeSiteNews) – During a May 29 York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) meeting, trustees voted 6-4 against flying the pro-LGBT flag atop of its schools and other buildings in celebration of so-called “Pride Month”, in a move that has been met with pleasant surprise by pro-family advocates.
While the decision brought cheers from the crowd, some angrily shouted in protest and had to be escorted out by YCDSB security.
“The Cross represents all!” Myles Vosylius, a former student at Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario, tweeted, celebrating the decision.
“The cross represents all!” – Faithful Catholic attending the @YCDSB meeting tonight, where the victorious decision was made NOT to fly the ‘pride’ flag! #YCDSB #CdnPoli #OnPoli pic.twitter.com/CSNCEQbS0c
— Myles Vosylius (@TheMylesV) May 30, 2023
While the YCDSB represents a victory for faithful Catholics in York region, many Catholic school boards have caved to pressure by LGBT activists and will fly “pride flags” during the month of June. However, increasingly, Ontario parents are fighting back as hundreds of students, reportedly predominantly Muslim, stayed home earlier this month when their schools flew the flag.
Parents have also begun to speak out against LGBT agenda being promoted to their children in schools. Pro-LGBT trustee for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) Wendy Ashby recently resigned after over 3,000 parents petitioned for her ousting.
Similarly, last month, a group of young Canadians protested a school-sponsored drag queen event in front of York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
Furthermore, Campaign Life Coalition is calling for parents to keep their children home from school on June 1 to protest schools flying the “pride flag.”
“Parents need to keep up the pressure, just like this, right across the country!” Fonseca encouraged.
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As Catholics, we are taught that we must love our neighbour and treat every individual as a child of God, accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
Parents make a clear choice when they decide that their children will attend a Catholic school. They rightly expect that trustees, principals, teachers all partners in education will ensure that Catholic teaching is presented, lived and infused in all that we do. In that regard, the appropriate symbol that represents our faith, and the inclusion and acceptance of others, is the cross, which is visible at the entrance of every Catholic school. It is the primary symbol of our Christian faith.
We have created this petition to express opposition of flying the pride flag at schools for the month of June. Our kids should not be forced to celebrate anyones sexuality, and a flag will do nothing to keep anyone more safe. Its nothing more than a symbol of sexual celebration, completely inappropriate.
Catholicism and parental rights are being threatened, and we will not allow teachers who are LGBTQ to influence our children.
We are not homophobes. We are trying to shield our children from any sexual ideologies, both gay and straight. Children are minors who have a right to a normal and innocent childhood. We are not STAKEHOLDERS. We are parents. EQUITY is not and will never be the same as EQUALITY. Inclusion means EVERYONE and the York Region Catholic District School Board & its Union members are infringing upon our religious beliefs by suffocating our children with woke political agendas & indoctrinations when they should be focusing on educating our kids!
We love all humans equally. Hate is the wrong word to describe parents feelings about the climate in schools today. Parents protesting the pride flag at school do not harbour any negative feelings towards the LGBTQ+ community. We do however feel that their rights seem to supersede everyone elses. We also believe that kids should never learn about sex at school and we condemn any classroom discussion or public display that encourages or promotes gender confusion and same sex lifestyles in a classroom setting. We also strongly condemn the nature of several library books that contain sensitive material on homosexuality and transgender issues in elementary school libraries. Similarly, we harbour no contempt for transgenders as individuals but their insistence on using female-only spaces is invasive.
The promotion of a pride sticker and the likelihood that a flag will go up in June at all schools suggests a particular political agenda, which warrants examination. Concern about alleged incidents of bullying directed at the LGBTQ community within schools has been raised. However when requesting specific information on the actual number of such reports, it was communicated that the data is currently confidential and not publicly available. Despite clarifying that only the number of incidents was desired, the same response was given.
The lack of transparency and information provided by the York Region Catholic District School Board concerning alleged incidents combined with these extreme campaigns using safe space stickers to promote political agendas, raises necessary questions about their motives. Despite facing opposition from relevant individuals, including the Archbishop of Toronto and Cardinal Collins, who have both explicitly expressed their disapproval of such displays, the union and its members have vehemently insisted the stickers remain.
We must stand up against this before the Board caves to the pressure of political correctness and decide to raise the pride flag too.
Please share this. We must get as many signatures as possible before May 20th so that we may present a united front at this months meeting with this petition in hand that will speak for itself and will represent all of us.
Thank you.
Sheree D
This is an enormous collective protest of the school board decision to go all-in on the LGBT agenda – a board spokesperson told CTV News that some parents reported to the school that “Pride activities” are the reason they were keeping their child at home.
Meanwhile, I cannot find any mention of this in the Canadian press, but a long list of Muslim signatories from the United States and Canada have released a public statement on the increasing tensions between the rights of parents and aggressive pro-LGBT educators. Published on May 23, it reads in part:
Public discourse on sexuality over the past few decades has presented challenges to faith communities. Today, Islamic sexual and gender ethics are at odds with certain recently popular societal views, causing tension for Muslims between their religious beliefs and societal expectations. At the same time, public disapproval of LGBTQ practices, beliefs, and advocacy is increasingly met with charges of intolerance and unwarranted accusations of bigotry. More troubling still, there is an increasing push to promote LGBTQ-centric values among children through legislation and regulations, disregarding parental consent and denying both parents and children the opportunity to express conscientious objection. Such policies subvert the agency of Muslim parents to teach their children their religiously grounded sexual ethics, violate their constitutional right to freely practice their religion, and contribute to an atmosphere of intolerance toward faith communities.
The reality is that in a multicultural country like Canada, there are many communities – most of them non-white – which oppose the LGBT agenda of the ruling elites, which is why we are seeing such staggering numbers of parents keeping their children out of school during LGBT events.
Diversity, to religious communities, means the right to pass on their values and traditions to their children without interference by the government – something that is increasingly difficult to do while participating in the public square.
Perhaps Canadian politicians and the press would like to grapple with the fact that when they are accusing those who do not share their views on LGBT ideology of being “hateful” and “bigoted,” they are referring – primarily – to non-white, non-Christian communities. You might even call it “Islamophobic.”
