Despite the fact that there are numerous Christians who are pro-gay and support equal rights, for some reason people seem to think that opposing same-sex relationships is a fundamental part of being a Christian. I kind of figured that the only real fundamental part of Christianity was to a) believe in Jesus, and b) follow the golden rule. But that's just years of Bible study talking. HA! Silly me.

“We’re calling upon Ontario Catholic Trustees to implement ‘respecting difference’ clubs as the responsible solution to bullying in schools,” Teresa Pierre said. The Ontario government passed controversial legislation in early June that allows students to form a gay-straight alliance in public and Catholic schools in an effort to curb bullying. Earlier this year, the Ontario Catholic Trustee Association proposed their own way of dealing with bullying in schools. They said they wanted to create respecting difference clubs, which would still address issues of students who were being bullied, but stayed true to traditional Catholic teachings on sexual behaviour and values. (Via The Observer)

Where to start . . . Okay, first off, if you can't even say the words "gay," "lesbian," "transsexual" or "bisexual," you're either not really respecting differences or you happen to have the most oddly specific speech impediment ever.

Second, giving equal rights to people -- which does not affect you in any way whatsoever -- does not specifically ruin your ability to believe in things. Don't worry: gay kids can be gayer than five Lady Gagas riding a rainbow unicorn; you'll still be Christian.

But the thing you're probably hung up about is the fact that, in this specific instance, what you believe in isn't necessarily legal. Don't get me wrong; Christianity at its best is pretty sweet: give unto others, treat people with dignity and respect? Awesome. But right now, you're not being a Christian, so much as you're grossed out by gay people and trying to justify that by using one out-of-context Bible verse. Neither of which really holds up to those actual, real Christian fundamentals.

There's a difference between being opinionated and being intelligent. I have no idea why, but there's an unfortunately large segment of people who can't seem to discern this fine difference. It's easy to feel strongly about a pet issue, but intelligence requires you to carefully examine the opposite of what you believe in and use that difference of opinion to fill in the gaps of your own argument.

This opinion letter from Intelligencer made its way into my inbox today, which I'd attribute to the fact that it seems to consider a government reminder about tolerance to be tyranny. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't really consider it tyranny until massive government opression. But that's just me.

Bill C13, The Accepting Schools Act, is an exercise of raw governmental power, the kind of legislative action that befits a bully with access to the coercive power of the state. Bullies such as these are immensely more dangerous than those found in school corridors. For that reason they are better known, not as bullies, but tyrants.

Here's the thing: he almost makes a point. Almost. I'm not going to say that he necessarily has a valid, cohesive point here, but at least what he has is just logical enough for it to be debatable, but also completely backwards enough that you can mock it relentlessly.

Does Bill C13 go against religious beliefs? Some of them, yes, but not all of them. And that's the one major hole in this whole argument: homophobia is not a cornerstone of any real religion. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a religion based entirely on homophobia. It's not a religious tenet; it's a personal opinion. And you can't use freedom of religion as a means of validating your own personal likes and dislikes.

The key to freedom is compromise. We can't have a society where everyone can do whatever they want free of consequences. Part of living together as a community is that our rights infringe on one another's from time to time. Laws are set in place as a means of ensuring that fairness is maintained for everyone, and yes, that means that there are some things you can't do. You can't shoot another human being in the head, you can't steal from their homes, you can't discriminate against them, and you can't claim victimization or persecution because you're being given the same shake as everyone else. 

Thanks to provisions to Bill 13 today, GSAs (in name) are finally protected by provincial legislation. To which I say: fuck, FINALLY. Jesus Christ, corpses move faster than this.

Look, I understand that people are allowed to believe whatever they want to, but can we all just admit that this shouldn't have even been an argument to begin with? I mean
. . . holy shit, this is why you're not supposed to enter battery-eating contests before debating legislature. It's fantastic if you believe something you've read in a book -- or more accurately, something that you heard about that is vaguely paraphrased from a book -- but what you believe is not as important as -- or more important than -- things we know for certain.

What we know for certain is that kids who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender are more likely to be bullied and more likely to commit suicide. What we know is that it is WAY more important to keep kids from killing themselves than it is for you to argue semantics. And what we know is that being LGBT is not a choice, but unfortunately for you, your mother's decision to drink through her pregnancy was.

So yes, kids can now not only form, but call their groups, gay-straight alliances. And if the idea of kids coming together to acknowledge their differences -- without letting themselves be divided because of them -- shatters your Christian worldview, you have failed at your religion.

It's easy for teenagers to assume that everything in high school is this unending hellhole from which they'll never escape. It's not hard to see why either: most of their lives and memories revolve around school, and when you're young and full of hormones, it's easy to confuse one single era of your life as a representation of its entirety.

If you haven't been following Andrea Houston on Twitter, now would be an excellent time to start; she's been reporting on everything that's been happening in and around Queen's Park during the Bill 13 debates. Anyway, she's managed to represent a pretty wide swath of voices on the subject. There are plenty of people coming out in support of GSAs, and there have also been those opposing the bill, from both personal viewpoints ("This is a serious issue that has to end, and it won't end with Bill 13. The accountability in Bill 14 will help") and from crazy, batshit weirdness (see: literally anybody claiming Bill 13 would result in underage gay orgies).

The thing is, kids in high school need all the support they can get. All kids. But whether you like it or not, LGBT kids experience some of the highest rates of bullying. Hell, even as adults, LGBT people have the highest rates of victimization when it comes to hate crimes. If kids want to come together and tell people that it's okay to love who you love and be who you want to be, why get in the way of that?

And cut the crap about how Christians are being persecuted because gay teen boys are dating other gay teen boys. Believe me, I grew up gay AND Catholic. Guess which one I got the most flack for? I liked who I liked, and I believed what I wanted to believe. Both of these things affected only myself and myself alone. But being gay was the only part that I ever got bullied for. Let me make this clear: it's not okay to bully people for their sexuality or their religion. That being said, Christianity is not based entirely around being gay; pretending it is, claiming persecution, and then trying to subjugate an entire group of people is a crock of shit.

(Image from slapupsidethehead.com) 

So the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association released the guidelines for starting GSA groups, albeit five months after they said they would. September, January . . . practically the exact same time, really.

The weird thing is, they really aren't so much "guidelines" as they are "stick your fingers in your ears and go 'lalalalalala' whenever gayness is mentioned," which kind of defeats the purpose. Last time I checked, guidelines were more or less basic parameters into which you would form a group, activity or organization. This is really more along the lines of completely erasing the actual purpose of the organization and burying the possibility of honest discourse and support for those still treated as second-class citizens in an unmarked grave. See how that's kind of the opposite of a guideline?

Look, OCSTA (what an awkward acronym . . .), a guideline for a GSA might be something like "no defamatory language," or "keep all rebuttals and statements factually true," or even "no food in the GSA lounge, because that's how you get ants." It's not "no gays allowed in the GSA; also, no GSAs." That's like if someone tried to start a soccer game and then you stepped in to say, "All right, but you can't use your feet, only your hands. Also, the net is now suspended in the air and you all have to play basketball. Now everyone go inside and stare at a blank wall." It defeats the purpose of something that was intended only to bring people together. 

You're not dumb people; if you were, you wouldn't be involved with the education of kids. But you're clinging so aggressively to these arbitrary rules and judgment calls about which parts of the Bible to follow and which parts to just sort of ignore because they contradict your personal beliefs that not only are you completely defeating the purpose of GSAs, but you're defeating the purpose of your own religion. Remember "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?

THAT is a guideline. Try following it.