Kenney fumbles issue facing LGBTQ students
The first gay-straight alliance was established at a private school in Massachusetts in 1998. Kevin Jennings — later named “safe schools czar” under U.S. president Ba rack O ba ma— was a teacher at Concord Academy when he co-founded a club for LGBTQ teens and their straight allies, along with a heterosexual student. The result would become a prototype for GS As across North America.
Three decades, countless teen suicides and 50,000 “It Gets Better” videos later, absurdly, GSAs are still being tossed around like a political football. Jason Kenney, leader of the new United Conservative Party in Alberta, is the latest to take the snap.
“I don’t think it’s right to keep secrets from parents about challenges their kids are going through,” Kenney told a Postmedia editorial board in March, in an exchange about whether parents should be notified when students join a GSA. “Parents have a right to know what their kids are doing in school ... [unless] there’s evidence the parents are abusive.”
Many observed with concern the potential for schools to inadvertently “out” students to their families. Capitalizing on Kenney’s fumble, the NDP tabled Bill 24, which would prevent schools from disclosing students’ participation in GSAs without their permission. Kenney and the UCP have launched a counteroffensive, denying any proposal to “out” students while asserting it should be up to teachers when to engage parents.
Kenney said Bill 24 runs counter to provisions requiring schools to inform parents when lessons explicitly involve religion or sexuality. “The NDP is trying to do indirectly what it cannot do directly: teaching sensitive subjects that would normally require parental notification.”
Premier Rachel Notley responded flatly: “Well, I think he’s making things up.”
As official school clubs, GSAs are student-led and supported by a faculty advisor. The allusion to “teaching” is a red herring. There is no curriculum delivery.
GSAs save lives. In a national survey of Canadian high schools, 64 per cent of LGBTQ students said they felt unsafe at school; 55 per cent reported being verbally harassed; and 21 per cent — one in five — reported physical harassment.
Studies show students at schools with GSAs are less likely to hear homophobic remarks at school; to feel unsafe; to be threatened at school; or to miss school because they are afraid to go. A B.C. study found suicide attempts among LGBTQ students in schools with active GSAs were reduced by 50 per cent or more.
Greg Jeffery, president of the Alberta Teachers Association, says the possibility of parental notification could deter vulnerable students from joining a GSA. “Making it clear that the support is confidential removes some big barriers to access,” he said.
Announcing the legislation, Alberta Education Minister David Eggen explained: “We know that Alberta parents love and support their children, and they play a critical role in their children’s lives and their education. But we also know that sometimes students feel safer talking about these issues with their peers.”
Bill 24 wouldn’t prevent schools from discussing student membership in a GSA with their parents. It would prevent them from discussing it without the student’s permission. Consent is a much sounder foundation for sensitive communications than guesswork around whose parents might be abusive, or whether teens have openly discussed their sexual orientation or gender identity with their families.
Requiring consent is not an extreme position. It’s common sense.
When kids truly need help, the intervention of a caring adult is welcomed. If they say no, it’s for a good reason.