Following up on my last post, I sent this message to my MPP asking for clarification on his statements:
Thank you very much for your reply.
I did hear the comments made on behalf of the Premier. It was not clear to me, however, if this meant that students would no longer be forbidden from starting Gay-Straight Alliance clubs come September. Will that in fact be the case?
– Julien
Yesterday, I received a response back from his assistant:
Hi Julien,
My apologies for the delay in response. I’d like to confirm that students can now start Gay-Straight Alliances in all schools throughout the province.
[Name Removed]
Senior Constituency Assistant
Office of Yasir Naqvi MPP, Ottawa Centre
If this is true, this is big news. It would be a departure from Mr. Naqvi’s previous statements, which mirrored the party line. It would be a great victory for LGBT youth in Ontario Catholic schools.
I forwarded the emails to Xtra!, who got back to me saying they’d follow up. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Is this in fact true? Did the assistant misspeak? I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.
Update August 25th, 2011: I was able to talk to Mr. Naqvi in person at a town hall meeting that he held. Unfortunately, the assistant did in fact misspeak. The Catholic boards would continue the ban on any club with the word “gay”, though Mr. Naqvi assured me that students could rename the club and the content would not be censored by the schools. I have reason to believe that this won’t be the case, but time will tell.