School boards, their stance toward queer kids and what is
taught to students — like Tracy Morgan — are inconsistent.
The Catholic school boards of Ontario won’t allow GSAs,
rainbows (except if they masquerade as cupcakes) or lesbian comics in the
schools. They are against bullying, but they refuse to create a safe space for queer kids.
On the other hand, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
is preparing to march in the Ottawa Pride parade alongside a yellow school bus
decorated with rainbow flags. The board is active in creating places for queer kids
to interact with others in the annual Rainbow Youth Forum. They also have Donna
Blackburn on the board — a lesbian mother who is out and proud.
And then you have the extreme — across the border in
Tennessee in the United States.
Although it is not the school board but the state government
that introduced the Don’t Say Gay bill, it directly affects schools, students
and teachers.
The bill prohibits the teaching of homosexuality to
elementary and middle school students.
The original bill banned any teaching about sexuality that isn’t hetero. But apparently, that wording was too vague for
Republican Senator Stacey Campfield.
He amended the wording to limit any instruction or material made available or
provided to a public elementary or middle school exclusively to
“age-appropriate natural human reproduction science.”
Campfield explained that the language was appropriate
because “homosexuals don’t naturally reproduce.” Basically,
teachers would not be allowed to say, “We’re going to teach about
homosexuality.”
And
that brings me to Tracy Morgan.
On
June 10, 30 Rock star Morgan
delivered a homophobic comedic rant live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville,
Tennessee. The comic thought it was humorous to say that he would stab his son
to death if he told him he were gay.
It
wasn’t and the comic has been apologizing ever since.
The latest rant is that Morgan would love his son if he were gay, and he has agreed to go to
Nashville, Tennessee, to protest the Don’t Say Gay bill. He is
also teaming up with GLAAD in a campaign to combat anti-gay bullying.
Why you can trust Xtra
