The ongoing dispute over Ontario's sexual education curriculum continued in Greater Sudbury this weekend as people on both sides of the issue held demonstrations.
The two sides are at odds over the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in Ontario’s schools. The acronym that has been adopted is SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity).
Those for the teaching of SOGI in schools say it is important for children to understand the current science on gender and sexuality, both for those children who will or who have already identified as gay, lesbian, trans, two-spirited or any of the other forms of sexual or gender expression that fall under the 2SLGBTQ+ banner.
Those against the teaching say parents should be responsible for children’s sexual education, and say Ontario’s sexual education curriculum, as well as some of the books that are approved for school libraries, “sexualizes” children. Several people Sudbury.com spoke with this weekend said the curriculum, in effect, “grooms” children to be 2SLGBTQ+, and children should be left alone to make that determination for themselves when they’re older.
If you would like to read the Ontario sexual education curriculum, you can do so here.
The organizer of the pro-SOGI rally, which was called No Space For Hate, was Vincent Bolt, a local psychotherapist and trans rights activist.
He said the rally on Saturday was organized to stand up for the rights of all 2SLGBTQ+ people, but in particular, young queer youth. The event was in response to both the latest One Million March For Children, which is against Ontario’s sexual education curriculum, and against moves by provincial governments in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick to legislate that students cannot use a different name or pronoun at school without parents being told.
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce has expressed support for that type of legislation as well, legislation that critics say infringes upon students’ privacy rights and makes schools, normally a safe space for students to express themselves, into an extension of the home, where students must bend to their parents’ opinion.
“We are fighting legislation that will harm kids, to support young people and to make sure they have the freedom to be who they are,” Bolt said. Referring to legislation and to the anti-SOGI protests, he added, “Attacks on the health and education systems put kids at risk because they want to remove discussions about identity and discussions about acceptance and inclusion.
“When they say they are here to protect kids, what they are doing is actually harmful.”
Rita Olink, one of Sudbury’s longest serving trans rights activists, was also on hand for the event. She said gender science is not an ideology, as the anti-SOGI protesters often say — people’s gender is about identity.
“It’s all about identity, not ideology … and that needs to be respected,” Olink said. “Trans kids are not property; they’re persons. They have their rights and they have the right to be themselves.”
Also at the event was Dr. Laur O’Gorman, the chair of Fierté Sudbury Pride and a Sudbury.com columnist who uses they/them pronouns. O'Gorman said they believe most people support the curriculum as it is and support rights for 2SLGBTQ+ people, but their support is often silent.
“I think most people are supporting trans folk, but I think there are a lot doing so quietly, and right now there is an onslaught of very loud people who are focussed on denying trans youth the health care, medical care and social supports they need,” O’Gorman said. “It is imperative that those who are staying relatively quiet on it … make it known they are supportive.”
They said the anti-SOGI side of the argument, including those in government like Lecce, also use people’s lack of knowledge about how the health-care and education systems support 2SLGBTQ+ people as a wedge issue to make people question their support.
“People trust government to a certain degree and with the Conservative government putting out statements that use language like ‘gender confusion’ and terms like ‘gender ideology’ … (and) when the government says they’re going to stop surgery on minors, people think that’s happening, and it’s not,” they said.
If you are curious about how gender-affirming care works in Canada, O’Gorman’s latest column lays out the kind of care trans-identified youth can access, and what they can’t. You can read that here.
Sudbury.com also spoke with several of the protesters on the anti-SOGI side. Most did not want to provide their names or be photographed. Most expressed concern about the sexual education curriculum “sexualizing” children, though only one person in the group we spoke to said they had read the curriculum.
They also expressed concerns with school libraries stocking books that the protesters felt were too advanced or too sexual to be made available to children. They also expressed concern that by teaching children about gender science (which they referred to as “gender ideology”) and about 2SLGBTQ+ people and relationships, children were being groomed to become trans or queer.
One protester agreed to speak with us. Peter Vanderkooy (who held a sign reading “Pornography does not belong in school with our kids”) said he was concerned about what’s happening in schools.
“Children should not be sexualized; children need to remain innocent,” Vanderkooy said. “Parents have the god-given responsibility to raise their children. I have no hatred toward those who think differently, (but) if you live a sexually alternative lifestyle, promoting it to minors is unfair.”
Asked to clarify what he meant, Vanderkooy said including 2SLGBTQ+ information in the curriculum is not education, it’s promotion.
Asked if he was aware that parents in Ontario have the right to exempt their child from the sexual education curriculum, if they would prefer to have those discussions at home instead, Vanderkooy suggested he was aware of that but “the problem is most parents are unaware … And I don’t see a need for it in the curriculum.”
The pro-SOGI group set themselves up on Paris Street across from the parking lot where lingering Freedom Convoy demonstrators set up every weekend, aiming to create a wave of rainbow flags and banners. They numbered a few dozen.
The anti-SOGI group began their demonstration at the intersection of Barrydowne Road and The Kingsway, before several of them joined the Freedom group on Paris Street early in the afternoon. There were also a few dozen supporting the anti-SOGI side of the argument.
Mark Gentili is the editor of Sudbury.com.
