September 2023 Update

Why do bigots only care about (presumed) cis-het kids? Gay & trans kids should be free to be kids too, without fear of persecution and marginalization.

Bigots are using our children and students as pawns in their attempts to control access to diverse and inclusive educational materials and lessons.

That is a form of exploitation, using children as a smoke screen for their real agenda. 

They are anti-LGBTQIA2s+ and because those arguments don’t work, they’re finding round-about ways to try to ban inclusive and diverse and inclusive materials from our public schools and libraries.

It’s disgusting and hateful and we should not stand for it.

Non-discrimination

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC) states that "The rights of all children must be respected without discrimination of any kind. It does not matter their gender; if they are rich or poor; what their religion, ethnicity, or language is; or whether they have disabilities."--UNCRC for kids

My community includes everyone. 

Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees Response to Delegations of June 19, 2023 

The Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees has reviewed the 5 delegations that presented at the Board meeting that took place on June 19, 2023, at Carman Collegiate, Carman, Manitoba. In addition, the Board reviewed 68 written submissions that were received prior to the meeting and 43 written submissions that were received prior to 4:00 PM, June 26, 2023. An elected body such as the Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees is both obligated and eager to receive feedback from parents and the electorate regarding matters related to the education of the students in our division. 

Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees stands by its Policy 18 - Respect for Human Diversity and Administrative Procedure 107 - Respect for Human Diversity and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees adopted and supports its new mission “Every learner is provided the opportunity to reach their full potential in a safe, inclusive, educational environment, where they are invited, valued, supported, and celebrated”. This includes raising awareness and learning as well as supporting and protecting everyone, including transgender and gender diverse people. 

Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees rejects the premise that any school library within Prairie Rose School Division contains pornography and rejects all claims of contravention of Criminal Codes, Acts or Statutes. Such claims are without foundation, hurtful, and harmful. 

The Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees rejects the request for books to be banned from the school libraries. The Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees reaffirms our Administrative Procedure #202 – Library Material Selection as the means for the selection of books in our libraries, and as a means of ensuring that our schools’ learning resources support the mental, physical, moral, emotional, and social development of students by recognizing that there is a need for a wide range of learning resources at varying levels of difficulty, various formats, and with a focus to support the diversity of students, staff, and communities. 

All school libraries within Prairie Rose School Division have age-appropriate texts that are only available to the age group or maturity level for which they are appropriate. Books containing material appropriate for mature students are kept segregated and where necessary, secured locations. The Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees has full confidence in the professional judgment of our educators and librarians regarding access to material based on their knowledge of not only content, but also of the students they teach. 

In closing, the Prairie Rose School Division Board of Trustees is committed to providing a welcoming and supportive environment that embraces diversity, promotes cultural understanding, and respects all individuals. This includes the belief that students have the right to access diverse perspectives and ideas in a safe environment, including books and resources, that allow people to see themselves as valued and respected. 

Not only does the Prairie Rose School Division (and all divisions) have a legal obligation to provide inclusive education, and to create safe spaces for ALL in our schools, our board and division leadership also have a moral and ethical obligation to come out in strong opposition of hate, bigotry, discrimination, and marginalization.

They (and we) cannot attempt to remain "neutral", or avoid facing politically-charged conversations when they have such a significant negative impact on the staff and students in our schools, and on our entire communities.

Allowing hate and bigotry their 10 minutes in the spotlight has given other homophobic and ignorant community members perceived permission to act out their hatred toward marginalized community members.

Everyone has the right to feel safe and welcome in their own communities, which includes public schools.

Hate has no place in our community - or anywhere - and we must actively speak out and act against it, otherwise we are silently condoning it and allowing it to continue.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

—Desmond Tutu

OUR PRSD includes everyone.

Jillian Enright, CYW, BA Psych.

Neurodiversity Manitoba 

The recording of the board meeting is now available on the PRSD website, under meeting highlights.

As I mentioned previously, the proponent for banning books shared cherry-picked quotes from various books with zero context whatsoever, including sentences from poetry and other literature, not sexual education materials. 

One book the first delegate quoted from - without explaining that she was quoting from a memoir - was "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, her memoir about her own sexual assault. 

Other quotes were from a book of poetry called Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur. The book of poems is described as, "a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity."

The delegate used a bait-and-switch tactic, revealing only the sexual education materials which she found "offensive" because she's homophobic and they included LGBTQIA2s+ content. 

When people asked for the titles of the other books she found problematic, this person refused to share them publicly until the board meeting, therefore not allowing time for the other delegates, parents, or community members to research them. She did not disclose the titles of any of the books she quoted from during the meeting, and read very carefully curated quotes with no context whatsoever. 

This community member and her small band of supporters have publicly called people who support inclusive, comprehensive sexual education "groomers" and "pedophiles". In her statement to the board, she said teaching children (but really youth, as the sexual education materials and all materials in question are only available to students 12 years of age and older, and so will likely have gone through, or will be going through puberty) about masturbation is grooming behaviour. 

Preying on parental fears of the real risk of abuse, misusing these terms, and fear-mongering about educational materials is absolutely disgusting and indefensible. This minimizes and mocks the real life trauma many children have endured as a result of actual predatory grooming.

Equating freedom of literary expression and comprehensive, academic sexual health literature with pornography and predatory grooming is a slap in the face to real-life victims in our communities and everywhere.

Those who have publicly made these harmful, hurtful, hateful, and outright false statements should make public apologies to those they have hurt, in particular the LGBTQIA2s+ communities and those who are still trying to heal from real childhood sexual exploitation, abuse, and other actual real-life traumas. 

As the president of the Manitoba Teacher's Society, Nathan Martindale, said in a Winnipeg Free Press article published yesterday: "hateful behaviour has no place in a civilized society and cannot be tolerated. All individuals have the right to participate in and access information that affects their lives and well-being.” 

 I'm so proud of our community!! 

There were five delegations in total at the meeting last night.

One ignorant statement which included a bunch of cherry-picked sentences from various books and literature with zero context whatsoever, including sentences from literature, not sexual education materials. 

All other delegates were against the banning of books and spoke eloquently and passionately about inclusive education, schools, and communities. They spoke about representation, and fostering welcoming and safe schools for everyone. 

The board also received 67 written statements from community members! 

I am so proud of our community, and thank you to everyone who spoke out against bigotry and ignorance, especially those who were able to speak in person to the board and to everyone present in person and virtually. Thank you!

The board has collected all the delegations and letters, which they will consider and discuss.

(although I don't think there's much to discuss, honestly).

The board is meeting again next week (on Monday, June 26) and will give their decision at that time.

So we still have a little more work to do over the next week...

We need to continue gathering signatures for our petition! The bigots are still trying, despite overwhelming support for inclusion and diversity in our schools. 

They have one week to try to find more fellow homophobes to sign.

** Always prioritize the safety of Queer kids over the comfort of bigoted adults.

Our PRSD community includes everyone!