So, I guess you’ve all heard by now that our fair province, Ontario, has a new premier-designate. Her name’s Kathleen Wynne, and she’s apparently from the liberal wing of the Ontario Liberal party. That’s nice, eh? I think so…especially since she seems willing to work with my party of choice, the New Democrats. And that’s not all she’s willing to do…
Ontario’s new premier Kathleen Wynne has promised to reintroduce controversial inclusive physical and sex education curriculum which was shelved after conservative religious groups protested in 2010.
Wynne spoke to reporters Jan 27 at her first news conference as premier designate at Toronto’s Delta Chelsea Hotel.
“We are going to evolve the physical health and sex education curriculum,” she said when questioned by Xtra.
Wynne did not say when the curriculum will be reintroduced, but she said parents can soon expect consultations, which will include education advocacy groups like the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA) and People for Education.
[…]
When it was first released in 2010, the curriculum was called groundbreaking because it presented age-appropriate discussions on sexuality, gender and different types of families. But the document, which attempted to update information that is more than 15 years old, was shelved after a backlash from religious groups.
Yes, that’s right, comprehensive sex-ed is back on the table in Ontario, after two years on the shelf. Why is this important? Well, it may have to do with the fact that Premier Wynne is one of those ladies:
Wynne is Canada’s first lesbian premier. She says she’s incredibly proud to be a role model for queer youth, but being gay isn’t the only quality that defines her.
“Coming to the legislature I have a responsibility to represent all my constituents, but I have some special responsibilities as well,” she told reporters when asked about her history-making leadership victory.
“I have a special responsibility to young gay people, who might be looking for the possibility of a more accepting world. [But] I’m not a gay activist. That’s not how I got into politics. I’m talking about it today because you’ve asked about it, but I’m not going to spend the next month talking about this.”
Wynne, a former education activist, entered the political boxing ring fighting the Mike Harris government’s Common Sense Revolution in the 1990s. She founded a group lobbying for better education and joined another led by former Toronto mayor John Sewell and resisted deep cuts to education, reports the Globe and Mail.
Yep, she’s an education activist. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But a certain meddling preacher man just hates those:
Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, said Ontario’s revamped sex education curriculum will teach 11-year-olds about oral and anal sex and eight-year-olds about sexual orientation and identity.
“Little eight-year-olds, they’re going to be taught they look one way on the outside but they may be the opposite on the inside,” McVety said. “This is so confusing to an eight-year-old … these are children in the strongest sense of the word — they’re innocent, they’re clean, they’re beautiful — and to corrupt them by imparting a question of gender identity is beyond the pale.”
Of course, Chuckles was lying about that. The curriculum in question would not have taught those issues to eight-year-olds, but to eighth-graders. That’s a full five-year difference. The average age of a student in Grade 8 here in Ontario is 13. And no, kids of any age would NOT be taught that they are the “opposite” sex on the inside, but rather, when they are old enough to understand, they would simply be able to recognize what transgender actually means. This is all about supplying kids with accurate information, not indoctrination.
But leave it to Chuckles to confuse the issue with disingenuous rhetoric; his grandiose vision of “Canadian Values” is not one of clarity, but of deliberate fogginess on his part, leading to blind “moral” panic in the general public. Two years ago it may have worked, if only by catching Ontarians unawares, but there’s no excuse now; the oh-so-Christian lie has been exposed.
And while Dalton McWimpy may have caved to Chuckles and his idiot brigade out of political expediency, Kathleen Wynne looks to be made of sterner stuff. After all, she entered the Liberal leadership fray as an underdog, and beat out McWimpy’s heavily favored “attack dog”, Sandra “Pitbull” Pupatello. She’s gonna need every bit of that stuff, and I don’t envy her the fight that lies ahead. But I’m glad she’s intent on wading in. If she shows the same dynamism on other issues as well, and continues to work with the left, she could be just the premier we need to reverse the backwardness Mike Harris and his SupposiTories left us with. Wouldn’t that be something?
Personally, I’ll be happy just to see Chuckles have a hemorrhage when Ontarians fail to react any longer to his hysterics about evil, evil LGBT people. One of whom also happens to be a former education activist…and now Premier of Ontario.
What is most amazing is that the media continues to give this buffoon (McVety) air time. The man has a long reputation of spewing lies and misinformation to advance his causes.