How would a community respond if their school district or school allowed adults to come into the school and walk around naked? What if there was a naked day at the school where adults were allowed to come and parade nude around the school, but parents were allowed to opt their children out of the event? That is not too different from what is happening in one Canadian city. On April 9th, the Toronto District School Board voted on a motion to have faculty encourage students and their families attend the city’s June 29th Gay Pride Parade as “a celebration and a political event that has greatly added to the richness of the city of Toronto.” In fact, the Toronto District School Board has marched in the parade and encouraged students to attend since 1999.
No one in Toronto is publically outraged over the school encouraging children to participate in an event with public nudity. On the other hand, outrage came from a different direction. A Toronto school trustee, Sam Sotiropoulo, wanted the school board to send a letter to the city requesting that they enforce the city’s nudity laws at the gay pride parade before encouraging the students to attend.
When Sam Sotiropoulo dared to speak up for the city’s decency laws, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation called on the school board to investigate his conduct. Of course, Sotiropoulo has been accused of bigotry and homophobia.
Trustee Cathy Dandy said that the issue isn’t about exposing children to nudity and violation of the law, but rather about “tolerating shame”. Trustee Maria Rodrigues, who presented the motion affirming trustees’ support of the pride parade said that “she’s gone to it with her two daughters many times and they are just fine.”
Education director Donna Quan sent an email to Toronto school staff stating that nudity has been a tradition at the parade; “it started as a liberation protest that rejects shame, bias and judgments for people celebrating themselves for who they are.”
The children in the City of Toronto do not matter. Gay rights and extreme views about sexual liberation are of utmost importance to these elected officials in charge of the education of children. These school board trustees are more worried about their reputation as tolerant and liberal social elites than they are about the blatant sexualizing of innocent children. Given that there is no outrage by parents and teachers one can conclude that most parents and teachers would rather protect their reputation as tolerant and accepting of homosexuality than the innocence of their children and students.
Let this be a lesson for parents and teachers in communities across the world. Again we are reminded that there will be no tolerance for the slightest deviation from the homosexual agenda. I believe the parents in Toronto do care about their children, but are cowed from speaking up. When a whole community is afraid to speak and take action to protect their children that community loses that right.
If you are not sure that a pride parade is inappropriate for children, the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) has documented photos from previous Toronto pride parades that show naked men, in full frontal nudity, along with displays of mock sex acts, sexual bondage and sadomasochism. (Warning: Links lead to explicit images.)