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Sexual Diversity and Public Schools in Canada and the United States
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39
appeared at a Board meeting set to discuss the matter, and spoke in favour of Marc Hall’s position.
Hall’s cause was supported by the leader of the generally-cautious provincial Liberal Party.
Dalton McGuinty was himself deeply religious, and headed a party that in the past was not reliably supportive of gay rights. But this time, his public appeal to the Durham Catholic School Board was unequivocal: “By refusing to allow him to attend the prome with his companion, Marc Hall is being denied some of the most basic rights as a human being and as a Canadian. . . . I cannot understand how the decision to invite his boyfriend to his high school prom poses a threat to Catholic education.”
But the Board was unmoved, voting unanimously against changing their prom policy. Hall took
the case to court in May, supported by a coalition of groups that included the national group Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE). On May 10
th
, just hours before the prom, Justice Robert
MacKinnon ruled in Hall’s favour, clearing the way for Hall and his partner to attend.
Most schools in Toronto’s public system would have had difficulty by that time upholding any policy that explicitly barred same-sex couples from proms, and the same would at that time have probably been true in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal, and other cities with formal school board policies prohibiting discrimination. After the Hall decision, the Catholic school board in Edmonton Alberta decided it would not develop a policy banning same-sex couples attending school proms. It would leave that decision to individual principals, though most would probably avoid the risk of court challenge by invoking a ban. It is harder to know if those students who wanted to take same-sex dates felt comfortable doing so. Some would opt for school proms specifically organized for lesbians and gays, which had been held in Toronto for some years, and were emerging in other Canadian centres. Most would avoid any visibility whatever.
Overall, there appear to have been more widespread attempts by students in American schools to raise the visibility of sexual diversity than by Canadian students. Because such work often accompanies a heightened awareness of the kind of harassment and bullying that faces students because of traditionally gendered school climates, it would not be surprising to see more student-initiated work being done on the American side. More sustained visibility has been given to that issue in the U.S. than in Canada, and students are more likely to see it as an issue that they should take up. In addition, the antipathy of religious conservatives to any expression of homosexual attraction is more ubiquitously expressed in the U.S. than in Canada. For progressive students, their parents and teachers, this can easily be intimidating, but also motivating. And for those prepared to take up activism, they have a wider range of support, from groups like GLSEN, Lambda Legal Defense, and the ACLU, than is available to Canadian students and their allies.
The impression of further advances in American schools on these fronts may be in part a function of U.S. advocates’ greater likelihood of encountering news-making opposition. But it is also a result of the clear and present danger of inaction in an environment as polarized as the American.
GAINS AND LOSSES ON TEACHER ISSUES
Securing protections against discrimination aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered teachers is one indication of school inclusiveness. Such protections make it easier at least in theory to come out, as well as to gain access to supports and employment benefits on a par with others. On this front, there has been more widespread change in Canada than in the U.S.. Anti-
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39
appeared at a Board meeting set to discuss the matter, and spoke in favour of Marc Hall’s position.
Hall’s cause was supported by the leader of the generally-cautious provincial Liberal Party.
Dalton McGuinty was himself deeply religious, and headed a party that in the past was not reliably
supportive of gay rights. But this time, his public appeal to the Durham Catholic School Board was
unequivocal: “By refusing to allow him to attend the prome with his companion, Marc Hall is being denied
some of the most basic rights as a human being and as a Canadian. . . . I cannot understand how the
decision to invite his boyfriend to his high school prom poses a threat to Catholic education.”
But the Board was unmoved, voting unanimously against changing their prom policy. Hall took
the case to court in May, supported by a coalition of groups that included the national group Equality for
Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE). On May 10
th
, just hours before the prom, Justice Robert
MacKinnon ruled in Hall’s favour, clearing the way for Hall and his partner to attend.
Most schools in Toronto’s public system would have had difficulty by that time upholding any
policy that explicitly barred same-sex couples from proms, and the same would at that time have
probably been true in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal, and other cities with formal school board
policies prohibiting discrimination. After the Hall decision, the Catholic school board in
Edmonton Alberta decided it would not develop a policy banning same-sex couples attending
school proms. It would leave that decision to individual principals, though most would probably
avoid the risk of court challenge by invoking a ban. It is harder to know if those students who
wanted to take same-sex dates felt comfortable doing so. Some would opt for school proms
specifically organized for lesbians and gays, which had been held in Toronto for some years, and
were emerging in other Canadian centres. Most would avoid any visibility whatever.
Overall, there appear to have been more widespread attempts by students in American schools to
raise the visibility of sexual diversity than by Canadian students. Because such work often
accompanies a heightened awareness of the kind of harassment and bullying that faces students
because of traditionally gendered school climates, it would not be surprising to see more student-
initiated work being done on the American side. More sustained visibility has been given to that
issue in the U.S. than in Canada, and students are more likely to see it as an issue that they should
take up. In addition, the antipathy of religious conservatives to any expression of homosexual
attraction is more ubiquitously expressed in the U.S. than in Canada. For progressive students,
their parents and teachers, this can easily be intimidating, but also motivating. And for those
prepared to take up activism, they have a wider range of support, from groups like GLSEN,
Lambda Legal Defense, and the ACLU, than is available to Canadian students and their allies.
The impression of further advances in American schools on these fronts may be in part a function
of U.S. advocates’ greater likelihood of encountering news-making opposition. But it is also a
result of the clear and present danger of inaction in an environment as polarized as the American.
GAINS AND LOSSES ON TEACHER ISSUES
Securing protections against discrimination aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
teachers is one indication of school inclusiveness. Such protections make it easier at least in
theory to come out, as well as to gain access to supports and employment benefits on a par with
others. On this front, there has been more widespread change in Canada than in the U.S.. Anti-
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