Gay students get protection
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Updated: November 26, 2009 9:50 AM
Gay students in Chilliwack could soon feel more comfortable walking through their schools.
Chilliwack board of education voted in favour of changing the district's bullying and harassment policies to better protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender and questioning students.
"We need to send a clear message against homophobia," said board chair John-Henry Harter.
Two weeks ago the board heard from a group of students who had endured bullying and harassment, physical and emotional abuse in school because of the gay, lesbian and bisexual labels attached to them.
They heard from kids who hated going to school, hated walking from classroom to classroom for fear of the taunts that would be flung their way, whose self esteem and self worth had been shattered, all because of their sexual orientation.
"Our students are being tormented, they're going to school in fear, and we, as a school district, cannot accept that," said Harter.
"Clearly the blanket harassment and bullying policies in place are not working for these students."
Harter hopes that by the school district taking a stand against homophobia, it will create a ripple effect throughout the entire community.
"I don't think that one policy will eradicate homophobia in Chilliwack, but it does start a conversation," he said. "It illustrates that the school district is serious about protecting all of our students from harassment and bullying ... Chilliwack as a community has an opportunity here to say that this is unacceptable. We need to send a message as a community. We need to stop this."
However, trustees Heather Maahs and Martha Wiens were opposed to developing a new policy that would specifically protect one select group of students only.
Maahs said that if you opened the policy up for one group, you'd have to open it up for all groups of students.
"Nobody deserves to be harassed or bullied," said Maahs. "But it's difficult when you take one group of students and write a policy specifically for that group."
District officials will be developing a draft of the new policy that will address the gay and lesbian issues, which will then be forwarded to the Board Policy Committee and Education Policy Advisory Committee for further input.
kbartel@theprogress.com
