Toronto Trustee Targeted: Students want trustee suspended over Pride parade tweets

A group of students is demanding that TDSB trustee Sam Sotiropoulos
be suspended for comments he made about the Gay Pride Parade.

More than 200 Toronto high school students say they want Toronto school trustee Sam Sotiropoulos suspended for his comments about the Gay Pride parade, which they feel are homophobic, and for suggesting transgendered students could be mentally ill.

“If the TDSB really is all about students and being accepting, why do they let this man get away with criticizing everything the board stands for?” asked Malvern Collegiate student Georgia Koumantaros, part of the Malvern Students Against Sexual Stereotyping club.

The 16-year-old addressed a Toronto District School Board committee meeting Wednesday, saying students are offended at a tweet in which Sotiropoulos cited a blog that called the Gay Pride parade a “freak show” and another tweet that suggested transgendered students might be mentally ill.

“He belittled the Gay Pride parade, which is a celebration of people who have not always had equal rights,” said Georgia, one of about 12 students from Malvern and Danforth Collegiate who attended the TDSB’s Administration, Finance and Accountability committee meeting Wednesday.

“If a student tweeted something like that, we’d be suspended, or at the very least we’d have to write an essay about the negative impact it has on school climate,” argued the Grade 11 student.  (more...)

Toronto Trustee Targeted: Students want trustee suspended over Pride parade tweets

The familiar goon squad:

A Tale of Targeting