Surrey school board ramps up ‘anti-homophobia’ policy

PETER BAKLINSKI lifesitenews.com SURREY, British Columbia, November 25, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Surrey School Board hastightened up its newly minted “Safe and caring schools” policy with what it calls a “statement of values” that “underscores” its commitment to “eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” In the amendment to its June “anti-discrimination” policy, the Surrey school district will now “not permit or tolerate any homophobic and/or transphobic behavior such as harassment, intimidation, discrimination or bullying, whether by commission or by failing to act to end such behaviour.” The district justified the new policy this summer, stating that it “recognizes that school community members identifying (either publicly or privately) as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit, intersex, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) face a unique set of challenges within schools and communities.” It was only a little more than a decade ago that the Surrey School Board went to bat in the courts on behalf of concerned parents to keep homosexual children’s books out of primary grades. Parents were outraged when James Chamberlain, a homosexual activist and kindergarten teacher in a Surrey school, wanted three children’s books promoting homosexuality to be read in his classroom. These were “Asha's Mums”, “Belinda's Bouquet”, and “One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dads, Blue Dads”. Pro-life-and-family activist Heather Stilwell led the fight on behalf of parents as a member of the school board. The battle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that a school board may not ban pro-homosexual books targeting children if they meet the “criteria laid out in the curriculum guidelines.” to read more click here: lifesitenews.com