Impending legislation to protect students in gay-straight alliances from being outed is okay with Red Deer Public Schools.
Superintendent Stu Henry said the school district already has policy that addresses confidentiality.
“It certainly doesn’t hurt to have the legislation to back up that. But I don’t know if it will be a big change in practice for us,” Henry said.
Education Minister David Eggen has vowed to protect students after United Conservative Party leadership candidate Jason Kenney said schools should tell parents in some circumstances when their child joins an alliance.
“We do recognize it’s great to nurture and support good dialogue and those healthy relationships between students and their home, especially if they’re experiencing any kind of struggles. But you’ve got to be realistic too. In some cases it’s not healthy to do that and in fact it can be really unsafe for some of our kids,” Henry said.
He said Red Deer Public has at least three gay-straight alliances (GSAs), one that started up last year, and not one parent has come in to complain about the restriction to information. But there is a worry that parents won’t be in the know.
“In a perfect world we’d love to have that dialogue between the home and school and the student. There’s just some cases where we can’t do that.”
Alberta Education defines gay-straight alliances as peer support networks that promote welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students and their allies. Alliances are run by students and supported by school staff.
Henry said the majority of GSA members aren’t LGBTQ, but rather students who want to support them.
“There’s a ton of research on the amount of bullying that goes on in the lives of some of these kids so it’s just trying to make a good, safe, supportive place for them.”
He said if any students want to start up a GSA the school district will assist them, find a staff member to help, and try to get the club going.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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