While LGBTQ activism is a runaway train in the secular corners of Canada, it continues to chip away at Catholic edifices. And in its sights, is the Halton Catholic District School Board which is part of the Greater Toronto Area. Halton Region also happens to have one of the highest growth rates in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last Tuesday April 20th, the board convened to vote on a motion which would see the “rainbow flag” raised at all board-run schools during the month of June (which LGBTQ activists call “pride month”). What followed was a contentious three-hour session which delayed the vote. The Pride Flag motion had been scheduled for a May 4th board meeting, but the organization Parents As First Educators (PAFE<\/a>) sent out an email blast to its supporters Saturday alleging the Board has “illegally MOVED UP its meeting on flying the Pride flag from May 4 to April 26.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro-family individuals and groups have mounted opposition since the motion was first tabled at an April 6th board meeting which featured a presentation by Nicole Hotchkiss, a grade 12 student at St. Ignatius of Loyola High School. The first question<\/a> directed at Hotchkiss following her presentation centred around a quote from Pope Francis who testified to the “life-giving relationship between man and woman which brings them into an intimate relationship with God.” Hotchkiss then responded with the wholly un-Catholic notion that she can choose what she believes and what she rejects from the Bible. Following another question which involved squaring the Catholic faith with the gay pride flag, Board Chair Patrick Murphy interrupted to state that only “clarification questions” should be directed at Hotchkiss, and that “deeper, philosophical questions really are not up for debate.” The comment is strikingly ignorant of the fact that the issue has everything to do with surface belief, and not deeper philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then, we must admit that Catholicism is crumbling not only from without, but within its structures. And all in the name of \u201cprogress”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the April 20th board meeting, a Dr. Alexandra Power (who calls herself “family doc, mom of 3, wife, health care advocate<\/a>“) went full-blown LGBTQ advocate with a four-minute long rant<\/a> that started with “raising the flag pride flag is never going to be enough”, was sprinkled throughout with calls for “progressivism”, and concluded with a chilling answer to the question “will this (raising the rainbow flag) be enough?”: “No! Never! Not until every child, adult, person, amongst us feels safe being their own genuine selves. Not until, as a society, until we rid ourselves of judgement and hatred towards others. Progress is where we have to aim.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n