In Alberta, Canada, the provincial Conservative government is under fire for a controversial bill that is touted as being an advancement for LGBT rights. The government sponsors of the bill would have you believe that this opens the door for gay-straight alliances in schools, expands rights, and protects children as well as their parents. But hold on, it's not quite that simple.
More below the fold.
Canadian Conservatives have learned from their U.S. counterparts. An odious piece of legislation known as Bill 10 carries the title [link is a PDF] "An Act to Amend the Alberta Bill of Rights to Protect our Children". As you might expect from the tone of this diary, the act does no such thing; the government's representation of what this bill does is fraudulent.
This bill was hastily presented, only this week, in reaction to Bill 202 offered by Laurie Blakeman, a member of the legislature from the opposition Liberal party. Procedurally, Blakeman's bill was known as a private member's bill, and was introduced in November. This bill would have compelled school boards to permit gay-straight alliance groups, where students wanted such groups established.
The Blakeman bill was opposed by some conservatives, notably Catholic groups and school boards. Many of these currently prohibit the formation of GSAs.
The government's Bill 10 is viewed as an attempt to circumvent the affirmation of rights contained in Bill 202.
There are problems with the procedure, as well as the content, of Bill 10.
Introducing legislation concerning the rights of a portion of the population is not something that should be done in haste. Especially when it is seen as an attempt to head off an expansion of rights. Then, the government took the weasely action of limiting debate, in order to get its bill passed quickly and with minimum discussion. The debate that did happen, last night, was contentious. Third reading (part of the parliamentary process) was to happen today, but the legislature was adjourned early, bumping the process into next week. Finally, late today, Premier Jim Prentice said that the bill has been placed on hold, as it lacks consensus.
The government claims that Bill 10 is about protecting children, and their parents. It presumably prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Says the Calgary Herald:
Prentice has repeatedly expressed support for Bill 10, which also gave parents the right to “make informed decisions respecting the education of their children,” and to pull their kids out of classroom discussions on sexual orientation.
Note: another article claims the exact opposite, that Bill 10 removes the right to pull kids out of sexual orientation discussions. There is a lot of confusion going on, and the government isn't helping.
Mike Morrison, a local blogger, counters:
“Parental rights don’t play a factor here,” said Morrison. “A GSA is a club. It is no different than a basketball team or a chess club. It doesn’t affect the students if they don’t go to it.”
The major problem with Bill 10 is that, while acknowledging gay-straight student alliances, it allows school boards to play the trump card. Any school board can prohibit the formation of a GSA. It's not much of a right, if a school board can simply say "No". So the bill allows a process: students who have been denied a GSA can go to court and beg. This is what happens when conservatives are put in charge of your rights: You can make your own organizations, but those can be denied existence. Then you can sue, with no guarantee of winning.
A late amendment to the bill last night attempts to clean up the mess, but ends up making it worse:
After hours of debate Wednesday, the governing Tories passed an amendment to its Bill 10 giving students who are denied a gay-straight alliance at school the right to appeal to the education minister.
The bill says the decision of school boards is final, but also says the minister “shall facilitate and support the establishment of the organization.”
But that facilitation doesn't guarantee that the GSA will still be allowed on school property, because after all the decision of the school board is final. So you can have your GSA, but you can't have it on school grounds like other clubs.
All this in the name of protecting the children. What children? Who exactly is being protected by this nonsense? No children are being forced to join a GSA, no more than any are being forced to join a poetry club, or a chess club, or play basketball. Those who want to join a GSA are being forced to go through legal hoops if they happen to be under the watch of a group of bigots who would deny them. And given the speed of the legal system, will the students even still be students by the time their appeal works its way through the system?
Education Minister Gordon Dirks has clammed up:
“It is outrageous that our minister of education has yet to get up to speak to this issue in the legislature, nor is he talking to the public about his position on it,” said NDP Leader Rachel Notley. “I think he has an obligation to come clean with Albertans about his position on this issue and what his role was in getting them to this ridiculous place that they are now at.”
Liberal Leader Raj Sherman said he was disappointed.
“(Dirks) has not stood up to protect our children’s rights in the education system he is responsible for.”
Dirks, prior to his government position, was an executive pastor at an evangelical church. His church views homosexuality as a sin.
This afternoon, a small group was hastily formed to protest Bill 10, outside the McDougall Centre in downtown Calgary. Inside the Centre were Premier Jim Prentice, and Governor Chris Christie who was in town to promote his presidential candidacy the state of New Jersey the Keystone XL pipeline.
Bill 10 isn't even that popular among the Conservative party's own members.
Several PC party activists have abandoned the party this week in protest, including Josh Traptow who resigned his position as president of the Calgary-Bow Progressive Conservative riding association.
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On Thursday, business consultant Chris Harper left the PC party and stepped down as a board member on the constituency association in Calgary-North West, held by PC MLA Sandra Jansen.
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Harper, who was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school, said Bill 10 would create administrative barriers to students who are trying to create a safe environment.
Jon Cornish, a running back for the Calgary Stampeders football team,
voiced his opposition to Bill 10. Jon is straight, but to use the vernacular, has two mommies:
“I want my kids growing up in a world where it doesn’t matter who you love, it doesn’t matter the colour of your skin,” Cornish told reporters.
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Cornish added his voice to the chorus Wednesday. A widely celebrated athlete, he is considered an unofficial spokesman for gay rights, pushing to make the Canadian Football League welcoming to all players, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Where we stand at this moment: Prentice has "
pressed pause" on the bill.
“I’ve instructed the government house leader to place the third reading of Bill 10 on hold, pending further consultation with Albertans,” Prentice said Thursday afternoon, less than one day after his government pushed the bill through the committee of the whole.
“At present there clearly is no consensus in Alberta on either the constitutionality or the wisdom of the provincial government mandating gay-straight alliances in schools,” Prentice said. “The issue was polarizing to begin with, and has become evermore so over the past several days.”
So, the mess is on hold. For now.