Michelle kept her two children home from their Ottawa school on the first day of Pride month to send a signal that the board’s almost obsessive focus on celebrating LGBT rights and gender ideology “was too much.”
She said she chose that route because it’s “Impossible to voice any opinion” that does not match what the administrators think and as parents they have “no voice.”
“We’re called intolerant,” she said.
“They are often secretive,” said of the school board administrators.
Michelle says she taught her son and daughter – who are in middle school and high school respectively – to be “kind and respectful” and that “nobody cares” anymore about whether friends or others are gay or straight.
But she feels school should be for “learning” and not to make “such a big deal” about anything else.
She says her kids just want to “move on” – to play their sports and do their favourite activities over and above academics
“The kids are saying ‘let us be..stop talking about it,” she said.
Michelle says, quite rightly, that the school board has “much bigger issues” – that officials need to spend more time “educating” rather than “indoctrinating.”
And Michelle isn’t alone. Other parents are also expressing concern about the school boards’ obsession with Pride season.
Waterloo mom Andrea became concerned when her son’s school showed a video called “Love has no Labels.”
According to a summary sent to her from the principal it appeared that they were advocating for love that had no age boundaries in addition to gender, disability and religious boundaries.
“No boundaries can be very confusing to kids,” she said, particularly when it comes to age (and the potential power imbalance that could result).
She’s also kept her two kids home (her daughter is in Grade 7) since the start of Pride season.
While she didn’t know of any specific activities on the first day of Pride season, she does know that her son’s K-6 school is having a Rainbow dance this week at which there will be face painting and rainbow tattoos.
All attendees are asked to give $2 which will go toward the OKTBME charity — which supports LGBT causes.
“The schools spend so much time and resources on LGBTQ stuff,” she said. “Between behaviour issues that cause them (officials) to evacuate classrooms and this,they are not getting anything done at all.”
Andrea is worried teachers and the administration are pressured to teach inclusion and diversity “all the time” instead of teaching kids “to be kind to everyone.”
“That would create less homophobia and less racism,” she said.
She added that parents are no longer permitted to have their own convictions and thoughts.
Michelle says kids want to just live their lives and reiterates that education officials should just “stop talking about it.”
“Being self-righteous makes it worse for kids,” she said. “Just let them get along on their own.”
