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| Photo credit: jgraham |
Ontario is trying to create new anti-bullying laws that will attempt to prevent bullying in the province's public schools. Such a move should be welcomed, supported, and applauded by almost everyone; very few people believe that bullying is a good thing or that nothing should be done to prevent it.
But it should come as no surprise that religious fundamentalists do not like the new law. Why don't they like it? Simple: the new law includes strategies for dealing with issues surrounding gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students. As these students receive additional bullying that other students don't have to deal with, it only makes sense to provide specific help for these students. But these right-wing religious groups object to anything that paints LGBT individuals in a positive light. They also object to the fact that the provincial government is requiring that all of Ontario's public Catholic schools have gay-straight alliances. Of course, the provincial government is only taking matters into its own hands because the province's publicly funded Catholic schools were ignoring LGBT issues in their schools.
