A group of parents opposed to the Burnaby school district's antihomophobia policy is going after Out In Schools, a gayfriendly film program for students.
Out in Schools is a nonprofit organization that brings queer films into high school classrooms to encourage discussions with students on homophobia and bullying.
Parents' Voice member Gordon World took issue with the program's list of youth resources with links to external websites.
One of those sites, World pointed out, was Health Initiative for Men (HIM), which features sexually explicit images in a short video about HIV. Out In Schools has removed the external link.
"You have hardcore gay porn available to students," said World. "We're not being consulted as parents if we want this program or not. There's no opt out, there's no notice Out In Schools is coming to do this presentation."
Out In Schools has been presenting at Burnaby North Secondary since 2004 and was introduced at Moscrop Secondary last year.
Gilian Dusting, the acting school district communications manager, said students have the option to not participate in this program, and that Moscrop parents received an information letter.
"In the seven years that the program has been offered at Burnaby North, only two parents have contacted the school about the program. School administration worked with both parents to address their questions," she said.
World has filed a freedom of information request with the Burnaby school district for documents related to the Out In Schools program.
"I want to know to what extent School District 41 has permitted Out In Schools to do its presentation and distribute literature at the high schools," he said. "I would like to see the Out in Schools out of schools."
Ross Johnstone from Out In Schools said he removed the link to HIM several weeks ago and that the "eye-catching" video was not on the HIM website when Out in Schools originally included it as a resource. The organization reviews their resources every two years, he added.
"We removed the link because Health Initiative for Men in 2011 is definitely gearing themselves to an adult audience," he said. "We don't have any control over other organization's advertising campaigns, and their recent campaign is very eye-catching, and we've decided that's something we won't be including in the next resource (list)."
Johnstone stressed that the resource guide is for teachers, who then recommend to students which resources they think are useful.
Johnstone also said there was no sexually explicit material in the group's classroom presentations.
"Absolutely not. Our program has been running since 2004. We screen only age-appropriate films," he said. "Teachers are always present in our presentation. We demand that."
For more on this story, see Jennifer Moreau's blog, Community Conversations, at www.burnabynow.com. Click on the Opinion tab and then select Blogs.
