Nearly 600 students, and counting, in Richmond’s school district have signed a petition calling on the Board of Education to implement a “discrete policy that addresses the specific needs of our gender and sexual minority student population.”
Grade 12 student Nathan Lee, president of Steveston-London secondary’s Rainbow Club, is a co-organizer of the petition that will go to the board on Nov. 7.
Lee said a new mandate from the Ministry of Education to have districts include explicit references to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression in their codes of conduct does not go far enough. He is seeking a policy similar to the 46 other districts in B.C. Richmond is one of 13 that doesn’t have a policy.
“We want to go further than [the Ministry’s order]. We feel that we don’t want to be punishing people. We want to be proactive and educate people. We want teachers to receive training so they can help understand the issues. A more specific policy can do that,” said Lee.
One reason why the board hasn’t implemented a policy, according to trustee Eric Yung, is because trustees haven’t heard the matter raised before. There had been no such presentations to the board, noted Yung last month.
In the past, Lee said students have felt dismissed by administrators, all the way up to the superintendent level.
The Rainbow Club was formed in 2015 to address ongoing bullying, said Lee.
“As a gay student and seeing my fellow LGBTQ friends be discriminated against in school, we wanted a place to talk openly about the issues we were experiencing,” said Lee.
A new policy that goes beyond Ministry’s orders should help address misconceptions among teachers and administrators and have a spin-off effect on the public, noted Lee and his co-petitioner Kaylyn Munro, a recent Steveston-London graduate, now a gender studies student at SFU.
Bringing the issue to the forefront of the public — and two demographics in particular — is important, they noted.
“For someone who is trying to come out, or explain their specific situation, it’s really hard for them because people don’t understand,” said Munro.
“For someone who is older and has morals grounded in who they are, it’s hard to form into a new movement,” said Munro.
“It’s quite a conservative city,” added Lee.
“I’ll put it plainly. People are scared of LGBT people. They have irrational fears. I would say it’s the demographics of Richmond,” said Lee, indicating there are cultural elements at play in the Chinese community.
To see the petition, go online to SaferSchoolsSD38.ca.
