Barry Neufeld must resign

It’s a hypothetical question, one the Chilliwack School Board has yet to answer, as to what would happen if a teacher made the same disparaging remarks aimed at the LGBTQ community as trustee Barry Neufeld did.

Neufeld, according to his LinkedIn profile, is a divorce counsellor and interfaith chaplin with 24 years experience on the school board. (The provincial government really needs to place term limits on school trustees.)

Neufeld apparently also considers himself a champion for child safety.

He recently criticized an educational resource aimed at supporting LGBTQ students calling it both a “weapon of propaganda,” that was “nothing short of child abuse.”

He apologized for his remark, but continues to repeat it on social media. Sadly, he’s receiving some support from the online community trumpeting Freedom of Speech.

There is a difference between free speech and freedom of hate speech. Neufeld has clearly crossed the line.

Children will be “confused and harmed” by such teachings, he said.

Neufeld is obviously unaware that the two groups with the highest suicide rates among youth are Aboriginal and the gay/non-binary community.

Education minister Rob Fleming, along with Neufeld’s fellow trustees, believe he should resign. He won’t. A similar situation unfolded in the Akron Hennepin School District in Minnesota. Beginning in 2009, nine students who were either gay or perceived to be gay took their own lives over an 18- month period. These teens could no longer tolerate the bullying. Up until that point, the board would not include alternative lifestyles in its curriculum.

Back to the original question.We sent it to Chilliwck board chair Paul McManus and superintendent Evelyn Novak.

Neither responded by our press deadline. (In fairness, they’re receiving a flurry of media inquiries from all over the country.)

It’s fair to speculate that had a teacher or principal stated what Neufeld had — and there was a parental complaint — there would have been employee discipline, perhaps a dismissal. Sensitivity training would be mandated.

The same punishment must occur at the top.

Neufeld’s views might be tolerated in a small, Christian private school but they have no place in B.C.’s public school education system.

As a society, we’re beyond that.