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There will be no time limit for school principals to grant a student’s request to start a gay-straight alliance club, according to a new bill introduced in the Alberta legislature Wednesday.

And, if passed, students would no longer be guaranteed permission to use words like “gay” or “queer” in any school club names. Although public, private and charter schools would still have to write policies promising to create a safe and respectful environment for students and staff, the government would no longer tell schools what those policies must say, and schools could keep the policies secret if they want.

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The same provincial privacy legislation would still prevent school employees from disclosing whether a student is in a school club, save for exceptional circumstances, such as someone threatening members of a gay-straight alliance (GSA), government officials said.

However, replacing the School Act with the Education Act would eliminate a clause that says school principals may only tell parents if the school has a GSA, and no other information about the club.