Catholic leaders line up against “Gay-Straight Alliances” in schools

Catholic leaders lined up Monday to speak out against a new law that would force them to allow “Gay-Straight Alliances” in their publicly funded schools.

School board trustees, as well as the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, suggested the new dictate violates their denominational rights.

Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, said the legislation “overrides the deeply held beliefs” of Catholics and makes “religious freedom … a second class right.”

He also accused the province of “micromanaging” Catholic education.

Read more Ottawa Citizen

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All schools must allow ‘gay-straight alliances’ under new anti-bullying bill

All schools — including those in the Catholic system — won’t be able to stop students from calling anti-homophobia clubs “ gay-straight alliances” if dramatic changes to a proposed anti-bullying law are passed.

The change of heart on the minority Liberal government’s Accepting Schools Act, which gave schools a veto on names for any student club, was announced Friday by Education Minister Laurel Broten at a student conference.

“Let’s remember these are student clubs and student voices matter in the naming of a student club,” Broten told reporters.

– full report at Toronto Star

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