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Sexual Diversity and Public Schools in Canada and the United States
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Lesbian Educators of BC (GALE-BC) was formed in 1990, just after Vancouver hosted the Gay Games. From its beginnings, it was developing resources for counsellors and teachers, and pressing for change within the British Columbia Teachers Federation. The BCTF had a long history of taking up issues of diversity and equity, and from the late 1980s on was approving pro-gay resolutions. These were broadly supported, though without much organizational follow-up. GALE helped change that, substantially increasing attention to sexual diversity from 1997 on. It approved resolutions supporting the preparation and distribution of resource materials on sexual orientation to schools across the province, and encouraging the establishment of “gay-straight alliance” student groups.
As in Toronto, the visibility of pro-gay work mobilized right wing opponents. A 1997 controversy in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, and the BCTF’s increasingly proactive role, sparked province-wide organizing by the Citizens Research Initiative (CRI). This was directed not only at sexual diversity activists, but also at a provincial NDP government thought to be supportive of their agenda, and represented the most sustained religious right activism on schools that Canada had seen to that point, and since.
Only at the end of the 1990s did progressive activism on sexual diversity become widespread among Canada’s teacher unions. Elsewhere in Canada’s labour movement, the early 1990s had seen an important increase in sexual orientation activism, and with some success. But teachers groups pressing for change on sexuality issues were slow to form, and their associations were equally slow to take up these issues with any seriousness. Even in Ontario, where the activism at the Toronto Board had been so visible, most teacher unions were cautious. At mid-decade, only the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario stood out as actively considering these issues.
Decade’s end saw more action. The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario was formed in the late 1990s as an amalgamation of men’s and women’s unions, and the high profile it soon developed on these issues was founded on the earlier work of the women’s union. In 2000, ETFO voted to establish a standing committee for sexual minority members, and in the years to follow the union developed substantial resources for teachers and schools, and encouraged school boards to use them.
By the end of the 1990s, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation was more active than most, notable in a province where public opinion was less pro-gay than the Canadian average. Activists in Alberta were operating in a political climate that was even more hostile, but a 1998 Canadian Supreme Court decision that read sexual orientation into the province’s human rights code energized sexual diversity activists. In the next few years, the Alberta Teachers Association approved protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, for students and teachers.
Quebec’s reputation as relatively progressive on sexual orientation issues has made the relative absence of sustained school-based activism until recently surprising. The two unions to which
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9
Lesbian Educators of BC (GALE-BC) was formed in 1990, just after Vancouver hosted the Gay
Games. From its beginnings, it was developing resources for counsellors and teachers, and
pressing for change within the British Columbia Teachers Federation. The BCTF had a long
history of taking up issues of diversity and equity, and from the late 1980s on was approving pro-
gay resolutions. These were broadly supported, though without much organizational follow-up.
GALE helped change that, substantially increasing attention to sexual diversity from 1997 on. It
approved resolutions supporting the preparation and distribution of resource materials on sexual
orientation to schools across the province, and encouraging the establishment of “gay-straight
alliance” student groups.
As in Toronto, the visibility of pro-gay work mobilized right wing opponents. A 1997
controversy in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, and the BCTF’s increasingly proactive role,
sparked province-wide organizing by the Citizens Research Initiative (CRI). This was directed
not only at sexual diversity activists, but also at a provincial NDP government thought to be
supportive of their agenda, and represented the most sustained religious right activism on schools
that Canada had seen to that point, and since.
Only at the end of the 1990s did progressive activism on sexual diversity become widespread
among Canada’s teacher unions. Elsewhere in Canada’s labour movement, the early 1990s had
seen an important increase in sexual orientation activism, and with some success. But teachers
groups pressing for change on sexuality issues were slow to form, and their associations were
equally slow to take up these issues with any seriousness. Even in Ontario, where the activism at
the Toronto Board had been so visible, most teacher unions were cautious. At mid-decade, only
the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario stood out as actively considering
these issues.
Decade’s end saw more action. The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario was formed in
the late 1990s as an amalgamation of men’s and women’s unions, and the high profile it soon
developed on these issues was founded on the earlier work of the women’s union. In 2000,
ETFO voted to establish a standing committee for sexual minority members, and in the years to
follow the union developed substantial resources for teachers and schools, and encouraged school
boards to use them.
By the end of the 1990s, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation was more active than most,
notable in a province where public opinion was less pro-gay than the Canadian average.
Activists in Alberta were operating in a political climate that was even more hostile, but a 1998
Canadian Supreme Court decision that read sexual orientation into the province’s human rights
code energized sexual diversity activists. In the next few years, the Alberta Teachers Association
approved protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, for
students and teachers.
Quebec’s reputation as relatively progressive on sexual orientation issues has made the relative
absence of sustained school-based activism until recently surprising. The two unions to which
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