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Queer Ontario Celebrates a Long-Awaited Victory for LGBTQ Students with the Passing of Bill 13

June 5th, 2012 Comments off

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Toronto, ON June 5, 2012 — Queer Ontario is pleased that Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, passed third reading today with explicit amendments to protect the rights and safety of students in all publicly funded schools. This includes the right for students to establish LGBTQ support groups in publicly-funded Catholic Schools, with names that describe and affirm LGBTQ identities.
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“We feel very strongly that LGBTQ-identified youth, who we know are heavily targeted for bullying, should receive the protections and supports they require regardless of what school board they are enrolled in,” says Nick Mulé, chairperson of Queer Ontario. “We expect the province’s Catholic School Boards to abide by this new legislation or reconsider accepting public funds.”
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We thank the Ontario NDP and especially Rosario Marchese, Peter Tabuns and Cheri DiNovo, for their support of LGBTQ youth during this needless struggle.
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We appreciate the support of Liberal MPP Laurel Broten, the Minister of Education, who up until May 25, was abdicating her duty to support all youth in Ontario schools. We also appreciate Premier McGuinty’s change of position on May 29, where he assured the public that Catholic School Boards will need to abide by Bill 13 and support students who wish to form LGBTQ-focused student groups. This is clearly a drastic change from his position since the beginning of this struggle in January of 2011.
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Most importantly, we want to thank Leanne Iskander, Christopher Mckerracher, and all the other students implicated in this fight, for their resistance and resilience over the past two years. This change would not have been possible without them.
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Our Bill 13 Fact Sheet [attached] gives our account of Bill 13, and calls for further actions to support youth, teachers, and staff in Ontario Schools.
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For interviews or more information please contact info@queerontario.org.
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Queer Ontario’s Statement on the Passage of Bill 13

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Queer Ontario’s Fact Sheet on Bill 13


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