The B.C. government could have a lawsuit on its hands if it imposed a provincewide policy on gender identity and sexual orientation, like the policy recently passed by Burnaby school trustees.
"If they were trying to force Catholic schools to teach that, yes, that would be a problem," said Sean Murphy, director of the Catholic Civil Rights League, a group devoted to fighting anti-Catholic defamation. "They could face a lawsuit."
Murphy's concerns were linked to a letter-writing campaign urging the provincial government to institute a provincewide gender identity and sexual orientation policy, like Burnaby's, which was designed to protect staff and students from homophobic bullying and harassment.
Inspired by the local policy, Burnaby's Kaitlin Burnett, along with Vancouver school board facilitator Ryan Clayton, started the Purple Letter Campaign. People participate by submitting letters in purple envelopes with stories about homophobia or transphobia and a personal reason supporting a provincewide policy. The letters will be delivered to Premier Christy Clark and Education Minister George Abbott by Oct. 20.
Burnett told the NOW the provincewide policy could apply to all schools receiving provincial funding, including private Catholic schools. That's something that doesn't sit well with Murphy.
"The Burnaby policy would be completely unacceptable in any school that adheres to authentic Catholic teaching because it would effectively prohibit the expression of Catholic beliefs concerning marriage and sexuality and impose an ideology antithetical to them," Murphy said. "If the provincial government were to impose a Burnaby-type policy that bound and gagged Catholic schools so that they could not teach the Catholic faith, I believe that they would refuse to comply and that the province would face a lawsuit if it attempted to cut funding (for some) independent schools for that reason."
Murphy would be OK with a provincewide anti-bullying policy that doesn't focus on homophobia.
"The difficulty is if you have policy that's not just about bullying but (is) attempting to insist that same sex marriage is appropriate or that same sex marriages are morally equivalent to heterosexual marriage, then that would be a problem because that's contrary to Catholic teaching," he said. "That goes beyond an anti-bullying policy."
While Burnett is also in favour of general anti-bullying policies, she wants something more for B.C.'s students.
"A sexual orientation and gender identity policy is not the same as an anti-bullying policy," she said. "It's about education, it's not just putting in punishments for people who bully other students. It's also about educating people about the discrimination that still exists in our society and the need to do something about this."
Burnett said she's spoken to a lot of different Burnaby students and has heard stories of harassment, discrimination and fear of coming out of the closet.
"As long as students are going to school and living in fear, it's not enough," she said.
When asked how to balance Catholic views on sexuality with protecting kids from homophobia, Burnett said she didn't want to speak about any one religion.
"But I will say in Canada, we have respect for human rights. And those human rights aren't based on religious teachings. They are based on the principle of equality of all people."
For more on the campaign, go to purplelettercampaign.ca.
MORE burnabynow.com
BLOG: Check out the ongoing gay-positive policy debate on education reporter Jennifer Moreau's blog.
LETTERS: Readers have penned dozens of letters, both pro and con, on the issue.
ARTICLES: Check BurnabyNOW online archives for more stories on this controversial issue.
