School board trustee blogs apology over communiqué
Bishop’s divisive letter circulated
An Edmonton Catholic Schools trustee offered an apology to parents who received a letter from a Calgary bishop denouncing Alberta Education’s new guidelines for transgender policies.
In a weekend post on her blog, Patricia Grell apologized to those offended by the inclusion of Bishop Frederick Henry’s letter in a communiqué sent to all district parents last Friday.
“I need the public to know that I tried to discourage my fellow trustees from including his letter in a communication we were planning on sending out to our parents on Friday,” Grell said in her post.
“As you can see, I was unsuccessful in convincing them that it would not bode well for our district and the future of Catholic education if we allowed ourselves to participate in disseminating his uninformed views and comments which frankly, in my opinion, are not in keeping with the spirit of the Year of Mercy recently declared by Pope Francis.”
The Pope has made mercy a central theme of his papacy and has declared a special year of mercy.
Last Thursday, Henry said in a letter to media outlets that the provincial government showed no sensitivity to the Catholic community in its new guidelines for school transgender policies.
“Our teaching is rather simple and direct,” Henry wrote in the letter. “In (God’s) plan, men and women should respect and accept their sexual identity.”
On Wednesday, Education Minister David Eggen released to Alberta’s 61 school boards a guideline that states school policies should allow gender-diverse students and teachers to use gender-neutral pronouns, participate on gender-segregated sports teams and choose bathrooms that reflect their gender identities.
Grell declined to elaborate further in an interview on Sunday, saying her blog post speaks for itself.
“Many of my constituents have expressed their dismay/anger/ horror/frustration/ that (Edmonton Catholic Schools) sent his letter which states so many hurtful and untrue things about the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) community — including that GSAs (gay-straight alliances) and QSAs (queer-straight alliances) are ‘highly politicized ideological clubs which seek to cure society of homophobia and heterosexism, and which accept the idea that all forms of consensual sexual expression are legitimate,’ ” Grell wrote in the post.
Grell says GSAs and QSAs are “simply safe spaces for LGBTQ students and their allies to meet and receive support.”
Eggen said Sunday that school authorities asked for the guidelines as they work to develop policies and approaches for welcoming, caring and safe schools.
Since the guidelines were released, the government has convened conference calls with dozens of school authorities and will continue to work with boards ahead of March 31, when policies are to be submitted for review, Eggen said.
“Obviously, people from all over the province are expressing their opinions about the guidelines,” he said. “We have been working closely with Catholic school boards and will be meeting with leaders of the Catholic community in the near future. This is all part of an ongoing dialogue. This is how we build a greater understanding and acceptance for all.
“Let’s remember that this is about supporting our students, staff and families and providing accommodation for all in Alberta’s schools.”
Board chairwoman Marilyn Bergstra could not immediately be reached for comment, but she has said she would like her board to accept all 12 suggestions in the guideline document.