Canada's Catholic Schools Won't Ban GLSEN - & Won't Teach Hate

pparently as a result of media reports, a school district in rural Ontario has reversed itself & will allow gay-straight alliances. But the board went even further, tempering the church's teachings on the sinfulness of homosexuality.

The issue first arose when Canada.com and other media in the province reported on the decision by the Halton Catholic District School Board in Burlington, an isolated area even by Canadian standards, to forbid students from forming gay-straight alliance groups. Such a tacit acceptance of homosexuality was in violation of church teachings, according to the November 2010 decision.

A casual reference made by Board Director Alice Anne Lemay to Xtra, Canada's largest LGBT newspaper had an outcome similar to Sarah Palin's "blood libel" comment. "We don't have Nazi groups either," she told the newspaper. "It's not in accordance with the teachings of the church. If they wanted to have a club outside of school, fine, just not in school."

Lemay quickly backtracked, insisting that she meant no comparison to Nazi groups. But the damage had been done, and the board was forced to re-examine the policy.

According to Lifesite News, a fire-breathing bastion of traditional Catholic teaching on the Web, the board caved into demands from an out-gay board member.

Paul Marai, described on Lifesite as "a homosexual activist," was blamed by traditional Catholics for a change in the curriculum.

On closer inspection, the changes look rather minor -- at least to the non-theologically inclined. It includes "sexual orientation" as a reason for discrimination, "in direct opposition to a Vatican directive," according to Lifesite.

Canada in general, and Ontario in particular, has been in the forefront of LGBT rights and protections. The province has made public education a forum for combatting homophobia. Now, traditional Catholics fear, that fight against homophobia is being brought into their private schools.