OECTA votes to form working group to force greater acceptance of openly gay teachers in Catholic schools

Members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association march in
the WorldPride parade in Toronto

TORONTO, March 18, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) passed a resolution at its mid-March AGM to form an LGBTQ working group “to be composed of at least 50 percent self-identifying LGBTQ members (where safely possible).”

The resolution was sponsored by the Human Rights Committee of the Toronto Secondary Unit (TSU), and according to “AGM proposed resolutions for TSU resolutions meeting,” available on TSU’s website, the rationale behind it was that “LGBTQ Catholic teachers are among the only Ontarians who can be fired, without just cause, because of their sexual orientation.”

These teachers “live and work with persistent and oppressive fear of exposure which forces them into the closet, erodes their confidence and self-esteem, and increases their isolation.” The document stated: “The formation of a working group dedicated to investigating and eradicating this last bastion of legalized discrimination is both timely and necessary.”

In a similar spirit, TSU’s Human Rights Committee hosted the province’s first gay-straight alliance gathering for “LGBTQ teachers and allies” in early February, according to the committee’s chair Kevin Welbes Godin.  (more...)

OECTA votes to form working group to force greater acceptance of openly gay teachers in Catholic schools