Nick Mulé, founder Queer Ontario, helms the desk at the 519 Open House

On May 19, 2010 Queer Ontario held an “Open House within an Open House” during the 519 Church Street Community Centre’s “Open House” to celebrate the completion of their renovations. Rather than holding our regular monthly meeting, we set up a reception area in one of the meeting rooms proudly displaying our new table skirt (banner to come) and distributing postcards describing our group. Additionally, we sold buttons, had sign-up sheets and offered chocolates to the curious.

A number of buttons were sold, some new people signed up to be members and all praised us for taking on this work and wished us well.

Thanks are extended to all Queer Ontario activists who volunteered their time to set up and staff the table at this “Open House within an Open House.”

TONIGHT!

519 Open House – “Open House within an Open House”
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
519 Church Street Community Centre – Room 304
6:00 – 8:00 PM

Facebook RSVP.

We will be hosting an “Open House within an Open House” in place of having our regular monthly meeting, during the 519’s Open House to celebrate the completion of their renovations. Also, Queer Ontario was approached by the Rainbow Health Network (RHN) to share the space with us. Thus, during this period of time, we’ll have a welcoming table with literature about ourselves on it and sign up sheets to promote our group and encourage people to join. Given that this will be taking place during our regular monthly meeting time, we hope that many of you would be willing to come out to this event to talk up Queer Ontario and encourage others to get involved.

Toronto: Queer Ontario feels the Elementary Health and Physical Education Curriculum proposed by the McGuinty government back in January of 2010 was a step in the right direction that would have provided Ontario children and youth with up-to-date scientific information on human development, physical health, sex, sexuality, sexual behaviour, and gender identity. So it came as a tremendous disappointment to hear that McGuinty succumbed to the pressures that were created by sex-negative religious fundamentalists, moral conservatives, and misinformed parents, ultimately rescinding the curriculum just 54 hours after he had come out in strong support of it.

Given that the first round of consultations had already taken into consideration the concerns of parent groups and religious organizations like the Institute for Catholic Education – alongside public health organizations, sex educators, school boards, academics, and LGBTQ groups including Queer Ontario’s predecessor, the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO), – the new curriculum was in no way under consulted and actually served to bring Ontario’s Health and Physical Education Curriculum in line with those of other, more progressive provinces like British Columbia. The new proposed curriculum is long overdue, especially in its recognition of ‘invisible differences’ like sexual orientation, gender identity, and cultural values and beliefs: a much-needed concept that would begin to acknowledge the full diversity of Ontario’s population within Ontario’s elementary school systems.
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