Dear Editor,
Re: “LGBTQ policy could create cultural shift,” News, Feb. 24.
I applaud the school trustees for voting to develop LGBTQ educational policy for schools, as well as the students who came out in the open to advocate for such a policy.
As a 70-year-old openly gay man, who attended Richmond schools during the 1950s and 1960s, I am familiar with the stigma, prejudice and bullying endured by gay students in that time period. If you were caught engaging in homosexual acts you could be jailed on charges of “sexual perversion.”
One of my schoolmates, a 19 year old, was sentenced to two years in prison for having consensual gay sex with his 17-year-old friend. The 17 year old was tormented mercilessly at school. The lesson for other gay students, such as myself, was to remain “in their closets” and lead double lives, which is a dreadful way to exist.
In 1969, Prime Minister Trudeau’s edict “we have no business in the bedrooms of the nation” was accompanied by legal changes, giving some protection to gay persons and things have largely improved.
The fact that gays comprise only four to 10 per cent of the school population in Canada but account for one-third of the suicides for those under 18 years of age, should provide sufficient rationale for instituting a special policy for LGBTQ students.
Shame on the Parents Care group and trustees Alice Wong and Jonathan Ho for their ignorance and veiled bigotry. Can’t they find something useful to do?
As far as gays not participating in sports, it goes with the territory. When I was 10, my father bought me a football. I told him “I don’t want a football, I want a fondue set!” …and I still don’t have a fondue set.
John Cameron
Richmond
