so here's one for all you people who support catholicism. what do you think of gays? would you be happier if they just disappeared? do think that AIDS is god's way of punishing them? do you want them and their sinful ways destroyed?
i'm just suprised at how hard the auto workers seem to be 'reaching for the rainbow'. good for them
from canoe
from the star but star links never work.
i'm just suprised at how hard the auto workers seem to be 'reaching for the rainbow'. good for them
from canoe
Gay-date bid sparks turmoil
Board won't debate decision that bars student's friend
By DICK CHAPMAN-- Sun Media
OSHAWA, Ontario -- A Durham Catholic school board meeting degenerated into turmoil last night when the board refused to discuss gay student Marc Hall's bid to bring his boyfriend to the school prom.
Durham Regional Police officers were called to the meeting by board chairman Mary Ann Martin after trustees called a recess and retired for a private discussion when the meeting grew tumultuous.
Martin refused to hear any discussion of Hall's attempt to attend the May event with a 21-year-old boyfriend.
The Grade-12 student at Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School in Oshawa said after the meeting he will consult a lawyer today about launching a human rights complaint against the board.
"I'm taking legal action now -- lawyers, human rights commission, whatever I can do," said Hall, 17.
"I don't want this to happen to anyone else. I'm trying to fight this for everybody else, not just for myself."
After the meeting, Martin told a horde of media reporters that "the Catholic faith is saying, we open our arms to anyone, of any background, whatever -- homosexuals, whatever."
But, she added: "We do not accept the lifestyle of a homosexual ... nor do we allow courting."
Martin also said there could have been an issue of age since a 21-year-old female would not be allowed to attend with Hall either.
Hall, however, has argued that the board has been inconsistent in its application of Catholic doctrine since it allowed a pregnant teen to attend last year's prom, despite the fact that it opposes premarital sex.
Mike Shields, president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 22, disrupted the proceedings after hearing Martin say there would be no discussion since the required seven-days notice had not been given.
However, Martin admitted that she would not allow discussion of the issue even if the notice is given for the next meeting on April 10.
Shields immediately rose and demanded the trustees deal with the issue. Many of about 75 people in attendance also began clamouring for a discussion. Martin then called a five-minute recess and the trustees left the room.
Three police cruisers arrived about 20 minutes later.
A couple of people quoted Catholic dogma and scripture to support Hall.
"Homosexuals should not be persecuted. They should be treated as human beings," Mike Burley, a media relations officer for Interlinks Youth, shouted at Martin
from the star but star links never work.
Police remove gay student's supporter
Durham Catholic board won't discuss gay date to prom
Stan Josey
DURHAM REGION BUREAU CHIEF
EMOTIONAL MEETING: The public, including supporters of gay student Marc Hall, 17, right, listen as Mike Shields of Canadian Auto Workers addresses Durham Catholic school board last night.
Police escorted the president of Canada's largest union local from a Durham Catholic District School Board meeting when he came to the defence of a 17-year-old gay student who has been told he cannot take his boyfriend to his high school prom.
A visibly upset Mike Shields, president of Local 222 of the Canadian Auto Workers, stood up last night and demanded that the student, Marc Hall, be allowed to speak after board chair Mary Ann Martin said the matter was not on the agenda for the meeting.
"This young man has a right to speak," Shields shouted as he made his way to the front of the room. "Your board created this situation and you are obliged to hear him speak."
Martin then told Shields he was disrupting the meeting and asked him to be quiet or she would call an adjournment. Shields, however, persisted, arguing "this is not a matter of religion, just a guy wanting to have fun at a school dance."
Martin then adjourned the meeting and ushered trustees and visiting Toronto Auxiliary Bishop John Anthony Boissoneau out of the meeting hall.
Shields then continued to talk to about 100 supporters of the young man in the centre of the hall, saying his union is opposed to all types of discrimination in the workplace and anywhere else. The union, he said, has written a letter to the board asking that the decision to ban Hall from taking a same-sex date to the May 10 prom at Oshawa's Monsignor John Pereyma high school be reversed.
The union leader called the board's action a black eye on both Oshawa and the Catholic church.
During this time, board security officers asked Shields to leave. When he refused, they left and called police.
After chatting with police, Shields left the board property and told reporters, "I think I made my point, I don't want to become the issue here."
Hall's parents, Audy and Emily, were at the meeting to support their son. "We believe he is a victim of discrimination. We just want our son to be able to live his life as a normal person," Hall's father said.
The official reason for not allowing Hall to speak was that the group did not give the necessary seven days' notice to be included as a delegation on the regular board meeting agenda. But in an interview, Martin said there was nothing to discuss with Hall and his supporters.
"We have the right in the Catholic school system to protect our rights and beliefs," she said.
After Shields' departure, Martin reconvened the board meeting without allowing Hall or his supporters to speak.
When the meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m., school board communications director Grant Andrews huddled with Hall and his supporters, and simply reaffirmed the earlier decision that allowing an openly gay couple at a school-sponsored function was against the teachings of the Catholic church on "homosexual practices" and contravened school board policy.
In an interview, Hall said he was "overwhelmed" with the support from the community. He called the board's handling of the issue "frustrating" and said he plans to seek legal advice to see if there is a way to force the board to allow him to attend the prom with the date of his choice.
While the Catholic Church and separate school system do not discriminate against gays, Martin said "the homosexual lifestyle goes against the teachings of the church and we support that."
She said dating and courting are considered to be matters of lifestyle and are "something we don't accept or condone."
Martin said the decision made by Pereyma principal Michael Powers not to allow a gay couple at the prom is supported "100 per cent by all trustees," and will not be reconsidered under any circumstances.
No amount of support for the honours Grade 12 student will change their minds, she said.
"We are not in a popularity contest here."
Martin noted the school board and trustees have received "tremendous support" for their stand via fax and e-mail, some from as far away as England.
"Catholics and others in the community understand that we are just supporting the basic beliefs of the Catholic church."
Hall said he believes it would not be a contravention of church teachings to be allowed to bring his 21-year-old boyfriend to the prom.
His understanding of Catholic teaching is that there is nothing wrong with being homosexual, but that the church is opposed to gay sex.
"I only plan on dancing with my date, not having sex at the prom," Hall said.
He said he feels he has to fight the ruling by his school for his sake and for the sake of all other gay students in Catholic schools.
Response to a Web site he and his friends set up on the issue has been "overwhelming," said supporter Lance Ryan, an 18-year-old student at Oshawa's Donovan Collegiate.
There have been more than 5,000 hits on the site since it was set up a week ago, most of them supporting Hall's right to take a gay date to the prom.
Many of the e-mails are from Catholic gay students, who said they did not take their same-sex partners to their school prom but wish they could have.
The gay issue aside, Martin said she would not allow her 17-year-old daughter to take a 21-year-old man as her guest to a Grade 12 high-school prom.
"That's just too much of an age difference at this stage."
She said she feels "compassion" for Hall because "this has turned into a much larger issue than his prom date."
Shields' Local 222 has 23,000 members in the Oshawa area, working at General Motors and its feeder plants.
