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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.
Professional bigots will spend extensive resources training others in the use of underhanded tactics to further their hateful agendas. Sometimes bigoted people can’t (and won’t) even acknowledge that they are biased against certain groups of people. Others will stoop to deceit in order to spread their misinformation and hate.
(They just wouldn't stay away). I paused my holidays briefly to ensure everyone is made aware the bigots are back and playing the exact same game they’ve been playing (unsuccessfully) all over our province, specifically targeting small rural communities.
Gender dysphoria & trans folks have existed since time immemorial. We use pronouns from the day a baby is born, calling people “he” or “she” before they’ve even formed an identity for themselves. Of course I want children to learn about all different kinds of relationships and families from a very young age. That’s what helps to reduce bigotry and prejudices like those being expressed.
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.
I cannot believe we're having this debate in 2023, but here we are. Students who have a strong knowledge of diverse sexuality, their own bodies, boundaries, and consent are less likely to be victims of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault.
Equating inclusive and comprehensive education with grooming and pedophilia is a slap in the face to actual victims of childhood sexual abuse and predatory grooming. We cannot and will not remain neutral or quiet in the face of ignorance, hatred, and bigotry.
If victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault wish to share their stories, we must honour their bravery, not attempt to shame them into silence. I would love to shelter my child from all the evils of the world, but I would be naïve and negligent as a parent were I to do so. Knowledge is protection.
My letter to our local school division's board of trustees, with regard to attempts to ban books from our public school libraries. As I am sure we are all very aware, there is a significant difference between education for the sake of prevention, and "encouraging" children to engage in certain acts.
Dear members of the board,
As I am sure we are all very aware, there is a significant difference between education for the sake of prevention and encouraging children to engage in certain acts.
I would love to shelter my child from all the evils of the world, but I would be naïve and negligent as a parent were I to do so. I’m sure educators know more than most that information is power and protection.
I want to clarify a few things the first delegate stated at the board meeting on Monday, June 19, as some of her statements were inaccurate.
First, I wish to draw your attention to minutes 9:30 and 10:30 in the recording of the meeting. The delegate claimed to read direct quotes from the criminal code of Canada, specifically sections 152 and 163.
While doing so, this community member very clearly left out the incredibly relevant phrase “for a sexual purpose” of both these codes—not once, but twice—significantly altering the meaning and intent of the law to further her own agenda.
The correct quote for section 152 is as follows:
“Every person who, for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or incites a person under the age of 16 years to touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, the body of any person, including the body of the person who so invites, counsels or incites and the body of the person under the age of 16 years.”
The correct quote for section 163(c) is as follows:
“any written material whose dominant characteristic is the description, for a sexual purpose, of sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years that would be an offence under this Act.”
As I am sure we are all aware, sexual education is not “for a sexual purpose”, it’s for educational, health, and safety purposes. Comprehensive sexual health education is protective, not predatory. A 2021 study by Goldfarb & Lieberman concluded that comprehensive and inclusive sexual education led to the following outcomes:
This study, among others, have concluded that “substantial evidence supports sex education beginning in elementary school, that is scaffolded and of longer duration, as well as LGBTQ–inclusive education across the school curriculum and a social justice approach to healthy sexuality”.
If the delegate is concerned about the risk of child victimization, then we all have the same goal of protecting our children and students from harm, therefore we should all be in favour of the provision of inclusive and comprehensive sexual health education in our schools.
Other statements made by the delegate were somewhat unclear, given the initial subject of the delegation was to be about books with sexual content in the schools as regards to sexual education materials.
As an avid reader, I recognized multiple quotes read by the first delegate during Monday evening’s meeting. I would like to bring your attention to two pieces of literature.
The first is a memoir about a sexual assault, written by Alice Sebold in 1999, a book I read more than 20 years ago. While the content is very disturbing and upsetting, it is the real-life description of an attack which the author endured, and she was brave enough to share her story. As I said at the outset, while I would love to shelter my child from these horrors, I cannot, because doing so would leave him more vulnerable and at risk. Education is protective.
The second book was a collection of prose and poetry by Kaur Rubi from a book called Milk and Honey, published in 2014. Once again, this author’s writings were from her own lived experiences, which is why these books were in the non-fiction section of the library.
Given that students in a middle school are at least 12 years of age, they will have gone through, be going through, or soon to go through puberty. Many of these students will begin to develop relationships beyond friendships, thus it is imperative that we provide them with factual information about their changing bodies, sexual health, and healthy relationships.
Families who wish to provide their own sexual education to their children have every right to do so on an individual basis. This does not give them the right to dictate what books my child should or should not have access to in a public school library.
I want my child to grow up in a community where differences and diversity are celebrated, not feared. The best way for this to continue outside our home is for our students to be immersed in school communities that are truly diverse and inclusive.
If there are a small number of parents who do not wish this for their children, then perhaps public school is not the right place for them. However, my hope is that school can be a place where these students have exposure to acceptance and inclusion, so they can end the cycle of fear and hate towards those who are different.
Our children and students follow our lead.
If we show them that differences are wonderful and not scary, that sexuality is healthy and normal, and we role-model respectful relationships, then hopefully the next generation will not have to write letters and attend meetings defending our right to exist.
One day acceptance and inclusion will be forgone conclusions, not something that marginalized people are forced to fight for day in and day out.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jillian Enright, CYW, BA Psych.
Neurodiversity Manitoba
I have put together the clips of the delegate reading the relevant sections of the Criminal Code of Canada, alongside the accurate quotes from the relevant pieces of legislation.
The Canadian criminal code is intended to protect children, not to be manipulated to push a homophobic and bigoted agenda
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
Click to read my full article
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!
A (very) small group of (very) small-minded parents in Carman, Manitoba are trying to have some books banned from all Prairie Rose School Division (PRSD) school libraries. Because of their own bigotry, ignorance, and homophobia, they believe no students should have access to inclusive sexual education. That's not the community I want to live in, nor is it the school community I want my son to be educated in. I want all students and community members to feel safe and welcome. Inclusive education means everyone.
This fringe minority group wants to control which books are in the libraries at PRSD schools, which include:
Although this is a small group of a few parents expressing these ignorant beliefs, it's important we let the board of trustees know we care about our children receiving an inclusive education. There are a few ways we can ensure our voices are heard.
This parent has been given the opportunity to spew her ignorance at the upcoming PRSD board meeting on Monday, June 19, 2023 at 7pm CT.
*Registration is required to attend the board meeting. Virtual attendance is available. The registration link is on the PRSD website.
Because they applied so late (June 12, the deadline for anyone to speak at the meeting), no one knew about this until it was too late to also apply to speak in opposition of their proposal to ban books.
Express your concerns about having a small group of small-minded parents in our communities decide what books our children should and should not have access to.
Public education means education for all, not a curated education according to a minority group's bigoted beliefs.
Send your letter to prsd@prsdmb.ca.
**The deadline to submit a written statement is Friday, June 16, 2023 before 9am**
Update: Even if it may be too late for additional letters to be read prior to the meeting, I feel it is important to continue sending them. This shows the PRSD board how important the issue is, and these letters can still remain on file. We can't let a fringe group of bigots speak for our entire community.
LGBTQ2S youth deserve access to materials that are relevant to them. Extremists in my area are trying to incite a book ban on multiple LGBTQ2S books available in our libraries.
They are also trying to get a list of names of children who have read the book. These are people our children need protection from.
The final meeting of the board of trustees will be held Monday June 19th. Please visit Redforedmb on Instagram for a letter structure and email addresses to show your support at this critical juncture.
Libraries are for everyone. Deciding your child can’t read a book doesn’t mean you get to make that decision for everyone’s children.
Even though it's too late, we should continue to request to speak at the meeting, because it's unfair that this bigot's homophobic ideas are getting air time while no one else was given the opportunity to speak in opposition. When we are denied the opportunity to speak, we can then make our feelings about this known to the board chair.
The application to speak at the board meeting is on the PRSD website.
The Board of Trustees and their contact information is also available on the PRSD website.
Come prepared to self-regulate.
I don't know about you, but I get really riled up when bigots try to control my child's education. Unfortunately, yelling and screaming probably won't be very effective, so I must have strategies ready beforehand to maintain some semblance of composure.
Let other families in our community know, encourage them to attend and speak out against ignorance and bigotry.
My community includes everyone.
Ban Bigotry, Not Books on YouTube
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