December 5, 2010

Dr. Chris Spence
Director of Education
Toronto District School Board
5050 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8

Dear Dr. Spence,

Queer Ontario strongly supports the three initiatives that compose the Positive Space Campaign currently being rolled out by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) which will establish a Positive Space representative in each school, educate students on how the media shapes and forms gender expectations and lastly, recognize and acknowledge Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs).

Indeed, if a 2009 study conducted by Egale Canada was of any indication, these initiatives have been long overdue since three-quarters of LGBTQ respondents felt unsafe in at least one area of their school, with half of the straight-identified respondents agreeing that at least one part of their school was unsafe for LGBTQ students. By ensuring that there is a teacher in each school who has been trained by a Positive Space representative, the TDSB is being proactive in reconfiguring these otherwise unsafe spaces into inviting ones where students can have peace of mind knowing that there is a contact person at their school whom they can turn to for homophobia- and transphobia- related advice.

Your organization’s second initiative, which will coach students in Grades 8 to 10 on how the media shapes and normalizes gender expectations, is also a step in the right direction since it will encourage students to question their own assumptions about gender and sexuality to finally realize that these markers of identity are not as “natural” or as “given” as they are often made out to be. Through this acknowledgement of the constructionist nature of gender and sexuality, students will also begin to be able to question how the discrimination leveled against both systems is also suspect given the unstable and artificial nature of the identities themselves.

And finally, through the official acknowledgement on the part of the TDSB in recognizing Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs), you will ensure that these organizations are recognized and promoted as legitimate groups within our elementary and secondary schools – and not just another extra-curricular program – which legitimizes the identities and bodies associated with them.

Queer Ontario is a provincially based network of individuals who are members of the gender and sexually diverse populations and their allies committed to liberationist and sex positive principles that focus on questioning, challenging and seeking reform to social norms and laws that regulate queer people. Queer Ontario engages in public education, political action, promoting access and diversity and coalition building.

This is without question an exciting time for LGBTQ students attending school in the City of Toronto. Through the establishment and promotion of programs to counter gender and sexuality based violence, the Toronto District School Board is stepping up it’s commitment to ensuring that schools are a safe place for it’s diverse student body. Moving forward, I hope that other school boards outside of Toronto — and indeed, province-wide! — will adopt programs like the ones developed by your board in an effort to ensure that schools across Ontario are safer for all students.

In solidarity,

Casey Oraa
Chair, Political Action Committee
Queer Ontario

Queer Ontario issued a statement back in August boycotting the Pride Toronto Community Advisory Panel (CAP) in favour of a direct meeting with Pride Toronto’s board and staff. In our statement, we vowed to produce a comprehensive report on the organization in advance of that meeting, which we also promised to publish on our website for transparency.

To that end, we have developed a survey which you can now download to provide us with your thoughts on Pride Toronto’s performance over the last couple of years. As you will note, it places a considerable emphasis on the organization’s handling of the controversies around QuAIA, Blockorama, and the Trans community — as well as the Pride festival — with plenty of opportunities for you to include your own recommendations or concerns.

You can download a copy of our survey here.

All we ask is that you fill out the sections that interest you the most and send it back to info@queerontario.org by 5:00pm on Sunday, January 23. At that point we will let you know of our next steps based on the responses we have received from everyone.

We thank you all for your help with this project.

The Queer Ontario Steering Committee

Queer Ontario deplores the recent decision taken by Attorney General of Ontario Chris Bentley on November 18, 2010 to dismiss the latest appeal to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Queer Ontario strongly supports the inclusion of the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” in human rights legislation as tabled in private members bills brought forth by MP Bill Siksay at the federal level and MPP Cheri DiNovo at the provincial level in Ontario. The extension of human rights protections to Canadians whose gender identity or expression is not based on a ‘biological’ binary model is long overdue especially since they are recognized as one of the most disenfranchised and oppressed populations in the country.

In a previous release (June 4, 2010) Queer Ontario called upon all MPPs in the Ontario provincial legislature to support DiNovo’s private member’s Bill 186 — also known as Toby’s Act — which would include “gender identity” as an enumerated ground for protection in the Ontario Human Rights Code. We are deeply concerned with the fact that Attorney General Chris Bentley has failed to recognize the need for these special provisions, especially for the legal and social protection of the thousands of Ontarians who are directly affected by gender-based discrimination and harassment across the province. Indeed, “It is extremely disappointing that Attorney General Bentley fails to see the importance of this bill, and it is equally as reprehensible that he and the governing Liberals are failing to take a principled stance on this long overdue human rights issue” says Queer Ontario founder Nick Mulé.

Chris Bentley based his decision not to support inclusion of gender identity as prohibited grounds for discrimination by stating that existing provisions in the Human Rights Code designated under ‘sex’ and ‘disability’ provide adequate protection. Queer Ontario, in alliance with trans-rights activists, contests this assumption and reasserts the proof that explicit recognition of gender-based discrimination is needed in the Code in order to expressly recognize the ongoing systemic discrimination faced by gender-described Canadians.

Trans folks continue to face severe disadvantage in employment, housing and the provision of health and social services. Data from the Trans PULSE Health Survey reveals that trans people face disproportionate levels of poverty with over 40% unemployed, underemployed or unable to work. Moreover 50% of trans people reported an annual income of $15,000 or less, and one in five were living in assisted or unstable housing. Trans-identified Ontarians consistently face discrimination from landlords and health care providers (43% without formal training on trans issues), including denial of access to vital services such as shelters, mental health, and rape crisis services. All of this has a serious impact on their health and wellbeing as 43% of trans Ontarians have attempted suicide.

The work of the Trans Human Rights Campaign and others to include explicit language in the Ontario Human Rights Code is fully supported by Queer Ontario. We feel that this is a crucial and important step in making trans-human rights visible in the Province and indeed throughout Canada. Including trans human rights in the Ontario Human Rights Code provides not only much needed symbolic recognition to a vulnerable population, but, equally as important, it also extends concrete legal protection and recognition for trans-identified Canadians as part of a pluralistic and equitable society.

SOURCES:

Trans PULSE. (2007). Trans Pulse: Report on Phase I & Plans for Phases II and III. London: University of Western Ontario. Retrieved November 23, 2010.

Trans PULSE E-Bulletin. (2010). Ontario Trans Communities and Suicide: Transphobia is Bad for Our Health, Vol. 1, 2. London: University of Western Ontario. Retrieved November 23, 2010.

Trans PULSE E-Bulletin. (2010). Who Are Trans People in Ontario? Vol. 1, 1. London: University of Western Ontario. Retrieved November 23, 2010.

INTERVIEWS:

Nick Mule – 416.926.9135
nickm@look.ca