So, I love my country. I have always felt free to think and act and roam as I please. I have protested my government, I have criticized those that are in power, and while doing so I have not been disappeared, killed, or intimidated. We have a pretty open minded and cool society.

And then, we have our complicated relationship with gay rights.

Canada helped to lead the way in the western world with the recognition of gay marriage as a right. It was decided that discrimination against a gay couple from getting married wasn’t an acceptable thing in the Canadian legal system. That was a major victory that helped spur on the dialog in our much more populous neighbor to the south, America. We have at least a few openly gay politicians sitting on the government front bench, and our hate crimes are slowly sliding into oblivion. Things are much better than they had been, but all is not well.

Let’s take a look at Alberta. Here a private members bill was shelved in favor of a government bill on the same issue. Some major differences existed. In brief, the private members resolution would have made it mandatory for a school to allow for a Gay Straight Alliance group to exist if a student had requested it. The government’s alternative bill was to allow for a student to sue and receive judicial review of their school if their group had been rejected. Wow. Okay. Lets see where to start.

The first thing that comes to mind on this matter is that the government thinks it has done something *good* by saying students can sue their localized school authority if they wish to protect their rights. Well, per the general legal framework that we all exist under, this is already a power that citizens have if they choose to take that route. The legal system is, in theory, always available to us. Most people simply cannot afford it, and this government bill does nothing to substantially reduce the costs these students and their family would incur to protect their rights. The heart of their bill is to promise protections we already have. This is not a solution.

The second and fairly glaringly obvious thing to be divined from this issue is that the anti-gay vote does in fact have quite a bit of clout in Alberta. The newly elected Premier Jim Prentice even allowed a free vote on this issue. Most legislation that comes through a parliament is voted for along party lines – the party or government that proposes it is assuming all members will support it. On some issues, a free vote is allowed to take place, generally on issues considered to be of moral importance to those voting. This is all to say that there would have been trouble if elected members had been forced to protect the rights of young gay students. This is the sign of a deeply divide public psyche, not unlike the issue of abortion.

And on that issue, thought there are many discussions worth having, there is right and wrong. Conservative Christians have once again put them selves squarely on the wrong side of history. Just as women deserve the right to control their own body, students have the right to peacefully assemble and provide support and love for their fellow students.

Only protecting and enshrining those rights in our society isn’t a goal that everyone has. It seems that some would even say protecting those rights is as sure fire a way as any other to end the very society which we are trying to protect. Because of the unimaginable risk associated with being young and gay, and not wanting to kill yourself or be murdered for who you love, organizations have lined up to ensure the right to discriminate based on sexuality remain protected. It seems to make up a rather large part of many peoples religious ethos.

The same debate in happening in Ontario, and here we get into a particularly sticky wicket and a profound sense of entitlement. This is also one of the most damming example of history and institutionalization poisoning our future and hurting our children. In the Canada of old there was a major role played by the churches in terms of politics, education, and health care. In Protestant dominated Ontario there was a great concern from the Catholic community that they would be subjected to oppression and would be prohibited from living their life free from oppression. As such, the Catholic School Board of Ontario was given constitutionally enshrined protection. That is to say that now these schools didn’t merely exist within the law and fabric of our nation, but rather, these schools were essential to the existence and legal fabric of our nation.

At the time it was a forward thinking and compassionate thing to do. It ensured that marginalized and maligned individuals would not need to face fear or uncertainty. It said that these people aren’t doing anything wrong, and even if they don’t understand god in the same way you do, that it is still okay and that they are still good citizens.

Today they have taken that protection and, without the slightest sense of irony, used it to oppress and subjugate people that are doing absolutely no harm. Worse over not only are they not doing harm, but in a disproportionate way harm is being visited upon them. Young gay kids are picked on more, run out of their homes, subject to violence, and inevitably are more likely to end their own life.

That the tolerance and protection that was once visited upon Catholics is now being used to take rights away from young gay students is a blight on our nation and on our history.