Dear Editor,
Re: “Richmond school trustees pass SOGI policy after marathon public meeting,” News.
Reading the reports about and reactions to the recent SOGI debates and decision in the Richmond News, I remember why I understood what comedian George Carling was getting at when he said that he was not only very disappointed in, but felt betrayed by his species.
We have the capacity for very high levels of logical thinking and reasoning but insist on subsuming those capabilities under a fog of ignorance, narrow-mindedness, intellectual laziness, and subjective determinism.
Where tolerance, empathy, compassion, acceptance, and open-mindedness could lead to more humane societies, we gravitate instead to intolerance, prejudice, and divisiveness.
Instead of finding ways to celebrate and exploit the things that are common to all human beings, we chose to not only emphasize our differences, but make those differences justifications for distrust, hate, and even cruelty.
Many societies in the world are currently struggling to find ways to ameliorate the tensions that are being created by those who prefer to not only emphasize and promote divisiveness, but foster opportunities for personal gain by doing so.
The conditions that most enable and embolden such people include the absence of the values of empathy and compassion, pandering to the most basic of human fears and predilections, and the creation of “the other” - those who are believed, usually without real justification, to be different from us in ways that somehow threaten us.
Perhaps Carlin was right - the default setting for humans is inevitably divisiveness and conflict rather than collaboration, co-operation, and enlightened understandings, as we see demonstrated in Richmond’s SOGI conflict.
But, to paraphrase psychologist Heinz Kohut: “We can no more survive in a psychological milieu without empathy than we can physically in an atmosphere without oxygen.”
We do indeed have a capacity for high levels of deductive reasoning and objective critical analysis and judgement.
It’s a shame there are so many who refuse to engage those capabilities.
Ray Arnold,
Richmond
Dear Editor,
I'd like to thank all students, parents, teachers and professionals that advocated for the SOGI policy and participated in the historical moment of its approval.
As a parent of an LGBTQ student, I am deeply grateful for all those who supported this policy and for the trustees who have bravely voted for it despite the intimidating and bullying attitudes of many anti-SOGI parents.
I am deeply concerned about the vile and often threatening comments that we heard that evening from some of the anti-SOGI parents that often attempted to silence our voices and those of the trustees in favour of the policy.
It is precisely to safeguard our kids against these attitudes that we would like SOGI to be implemented. And although some of these parents started their brief statements with the disclaimer that they are against bullying their angry and often transphobic remarks and booing of people in favor of SOGI show otherwise.
The most important point I would like to make, though, is that their group often identifies itself as concerned parents and promotes the idea that as parents they also have rights, the right to resist SOGI.
These claims are made to specifically separate themselves from those, who are pro-SOGI, whom they identify as teachers. Their claim is that their right as parents trumps the views of the teachers and health professionals as well as the experiences of the LGBTQ students themselves.
But here is the thing: we, who support these students are also parents (and in some cases we are both parents and teachers and/or health practitioners) and as parents we have the right to protect our kids against bullying and discrimination based on their gender identity and sexual orientation.
In other words, the anti-SOGI parents must stop using the parent card as a subterfuge to promote their hateful and discriminatory positions. Yes, they are parents and care for their kids but so are we. And as parents of LGBTQ youth we are thrilled to see this policy pass as we see it as an overdue and life-saving policy for a very vulnerable school population.
As parents of LGBTQ students we support SOGI and feel relieved for having been approved because partaking safely in the privilege we call education is a right of all Canadian children including LGBTQ youth.
Dr. Litsa Chatzivasileiou
Richmond
Dear Editor,
I believed that SOGI is not appropriate to be discussed in the elementary level of education.
It will bring confusion to younger mines of children. I am not against SOGI, but let us save it for adults when they are at the stage to understand the society of human nature.
Warly Soriano
Richmond
Dear Editor,
I’m writing on behalf of the parent group, Richmond Schools Stand United and our hundreds of supporters.
The public school board meeting regarding the SOGI policy certainly was an eye opener.
Richmond parents were utterly shocked at the unruly behaviour and the number of people who attended from outside of Richmond.
Equally shocking was the amount of misinformation that has been used to manipulate and exacerbate some legitimate concerns from Richmond parents. We cannot embrace diversity in our city without maintaining a higher level of civility and reason.
The vast majority of our community welcomes that this policy will protect basic human rights, set by the BC Human Right’s Code, also echoed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, which states that all Canadians be free from discrimination, regardless of sexual orientation. So, policies to enforce these codes MUST be made and followed by our public schools. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise.
Since the school board is following Provincial and Federal laws and responding to the need for change in our public schools, I know that many Richmond parents and community members didn’t even think it was necessary to voice support for this policy.
This is the reason why the news and the school board has mostly only heard from one side. However, this one side absolutely does not represent the majority of Richmond parents.
The model of inclusion that governs the policies both in our public schools, workplaces and in society as a whole is what makes us so special.
This SOGI policy is not about excluding other students. This policy is about addressing the on-going challenges felt by LGBTQ+ students and establishing procedures to both help these students feel safe and supported while at the same time assisting educators in promoting inclusion.
I would like to recognize our school board’s efforts to provide the public with a transparent process and ample opportunity to voice concerns. Even for me, not directly involved, hearing about the lack of compassion and ugly hateful rhetoric has weighed heavily on my heart.
I also want to recognize all the students who have bravely shared their stories of harassment and bullying. Thank you for opening our eyes to the need for this policy in Richmond. You all have our full support.
On the heels of Canada Day celebrations and post SOGI school board meeting, I would like to applaud the board for seeing through the ignorance and hate in order to promote compassion, equality and safety in our public schools for all students, without exception.
Kim Nowitsky
Richmond
