Recently, there has been an increasing focus on school boards surrounding 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion. 2022 saw school board elections in many provinces including Ontario. There was a coordinated effort by far-right organizations to elect trustees aligned with their extreme, and often hateful, views. While many of the candidates were unsuccessful, the hostility hasn’t ended. School board meetings which were once often as conventional as any other business meeting, have become ideological battlegrounds for those attempting to impose their beliefs upon the public education system. 

This resource will outline the safety risk that 2SLGBTQ+ students face in the Ontario education system and the foundation for their rights that educators are legally mandated to uphold and protect. There will be a critical examination of common queerphobic arguments utilized by those seeking to restrict these rights and harm 2SLGBTQ+ students. This examination will include how these arguments ultimately lead to an effort to eliminate the existence of 2SLGBTQ+ individuals. Then the connections this movement has to other hateful ideologies will be detailed. Notable anti-2SLGBTQ+ figures and groups will be analyzed to show how this hate movement is expressed and organized. Finally, potential action steps with be explored for multiple levels of the education system.

This resource is specifically designed for Ontario school boards, especially the examination of 2SLGBTQ+ rights, but can be adapted and used for many other locations. It examines most of the points through the framework of the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) to serve as a tangible example of the concepts described. This resource can help educators, trustees, and the wider public, better understand what is behind the movement to alienate 2SLGBTQ+ students in the education system and how they can ensure that human rights are upheld and the safety of all students is ensured. 

This resource was developed by me, a white, non-binary educator. As someone committed to justice and safety for all, I felt it important that a resource like this be created. It is heavily inspired by the  Confronting And Preventing Hate In Canadian Schools Toolkit developed by The Canadian Anti-Hate Network. I hope that this document can serve as a stopgap measure until a more comprehensive toolkit can be created that includes more community input and expertise.

This document is inspired by the work of so many great activists, organizations, and individuals and is free to be copied, modified, and/or distributed by any medium. 

Lastly, the majority of this document was developed on the Haldimand Tract which is stolen land that was promised to Six Nations. This land was used by the Haudenosaunee,  Anishinaabe, and Chonnonton People. The existence of the Canadian State is dependent on historical and ongoing genocide against Indigenous Peoples. This genocide is rooted in colonialism and hate and must be opposed. Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer youth are particularly at risk of harm from hate movements and must be protected. I encourage readers to find and support a local organization that does this.

Bella Ciao!

Safety and inclusion are essential precursors to learning for children. When students do not feel safe or accepted, they are not given the chance to effectively develop alongside their peers. A 2021 study by Egale that included over 4000 students in Canada found that “Homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia remain rampant in Canadian schools.” Their findings give empirical evidence displaying the issue of anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate in school. From the study: “62% of 2SLGBTQ respondents feel unsafe at school, compared to 11% of cisgender heterosexual students.” It is clear that Ontario schools are not a safe and inclusive space for many 2SLGBTQ+ students.

These facts are not novel or new to anyone that has been paying attention to education in Ontario. The provincial government, school boards, Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), and schools have all been taking steps to address anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate in Ontario. This has been met by a wave of counter-organizing that has sought to characterize 2SLGBTQ+ rights as something that should be debated. This organizing has been evident both nationally and internationally. While legislation may stop at borders, ideas don’t. The United States has seen many states implementing restrictions on healthcare, education, free speech, and civil rights for 2SLGBTQ+ people. As the inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ people becomes more popular in society, the pushback from hate-promoting movements has gotten louder. Southern Poverty Law Center aptly describes some aspects of these movements:

“A central theme of anti-LGBTQ organizing and ideology is the opposition to LGBTQ rights, often couched in demonizing rhetoric and grounded in harmful pseudoscience that portrays LGBTQ people as threats to children, society and often public health.” (Emphasis mine)

In the face of this organizing, school boards and other institutions seem to be unprepared as they seek to continue the progress they were making. Their actions have been reactive, allowing individuals to make hateful statements on the public record and generate outrage through social media and news articles. It is evident that policymakers are not currently equipped to effectively address this movement. They need to have a better understanding of this hate ideology to better confront and prevent it.