Pembina Hills school division trustee Dale Schaffrick’s apology for comments he made suggesting students should “act less gay” to avoid being bullied is a step in the right direction.
But if trustees are to have any chance of successfully promoting the inclusiveness we’re so often told they value, Schaffrick must resign.
The comment was, as he has said, hurtful and offensive. No student, regardless of race, age, religion, sexuality or any other discernable factor should be told to be anything other than who they are — especially by someone tasked with working on behalf of all students.
This isn’t about being politically correct, or believing what you want in your own life. A representative of a public institution that must provide a safe and caring place for all students saying something so clearly at odds with those values is unacceptable. An apology, no matter how sincere, doesn’t go far enough.
But while the next step for Schaffrick should seem simple and straightforward, where does it leave the rest of us?
Sadly, homophobia is alive and well here in rural Alberta. It’s one of the last few things that it’s still somewhat accepted to be bigoted about — and the repercussions of the discrimination that results can be tragic.
The attitude that Schaffrick spoke about — that gay students should simply hide their sexuality to avoid being bullied because of it — is an attitude that has contributed to countless cases of depression and even suicide in this country.
Fortunately, it’s an attitude that’s changing, just like the racist and sexists attitudes so common 100 years ago have slowly but surely changed — even if there’s still progress to be made.
The idea that somebody’s personal sexual preferences should be cause to single them out and discriminate against them is on its way out, as it should be in a relatively free society such as ours.
Generations of brave gay rights activists have paved the way for this change, and even if it’s taking a while to come to our own corner of rural Alberta, there will soon come a day when homophobic individuals and groups will find themselves in the company of the Ku Klux Klan and white-power skinheads — on the wrong side of history.
