By Doug Hallett
Guelph Tribune

Ontario’s Catholic school boards have no intention of allowing student groups known as gay-straight alliances in their schools, but they will allow student-led groups focusing on “same-sex attraction and gender identity,” says the chair of the local Catholic board.
This stance should fulfill requirements set out by the Ontario government in new legislation aimed at ending bullying and intolerance in the province’s schools, says Marino Gazzola.
Gay-straight alliances, which exist locally and elsewhere in some public high schools, have no place in Catholic high schools, said Gazzola who is also vice-president of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association.
“That term is associated with activism, is associated with all sorts of things, not just helping students out if they have an issue,” he said. The stance being recommended for Catholic schools is contained in a report titled “Respecting Differences,” which was released by the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association late last month.
The report recommends this type of student-led group in Catholic schools might be called a Respecting Differences group. However, other names might be chosen by individual groups, said Gazzola, who noted one such group in a Catholic school in Ontario is called Open Arms.
The report says such groups are to have a staff adviser and are not to be forums for activism or protest. They’re also not supposed to provide personal counselling in a group setting.
Gazzola said students who openly talk about their sexual preference in a group “could put themselves at risk” if this information spreads beyond the group.
So, he said, “the best setting” for such discussion would be in private between the student and a school counsellor or chaplain, where confidentiality rules apply. “It would certainly be better dealt with confidentially,” rather than in a group setting, he said.
“We have got a lot of support resources in our schools” that aim to help the whole student, he said – “the mind, the body, the spirit, everything about the student.”
Gazzola said there aren’t any groups like this now in high schools within the Wellington Catholic District School Board, which are all located in Guelph. “We haven’t had any requests to set up a group such as this at our local board.”
The Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association hasn’t got a response yet from the province’s education ministry to its new “Respecting Differences” report, Gazzola said. However, he said he’s sure the stance outlined in the report “fulfills the mandate” of legislation unveiled in late November by Premier Dalton McGuinty.
McGuinty, who is only the second Catholic to serve as Ontario’s premier, unveiled the legislation at a Toronto high school. He also released a video titled “It Gets Better,” which encourages students, teachers, parents and community members to do their part to help end bullying and intolerance.
The provincial government says the new legislation should help make Ontario schools safer and more accepting places to learn. It contains measures such as tougher consequences for bullying and hate-motivated actions – up to, and including, expulsion. The legislation also requires schools to support students who want to lead activities that promote understanding, acceptance and respect for all.