School Students Support Gay-Positive Policy In Canada.

They may have lacked numbers,  but they made up for that in their enthusiasm!    Dozens of Burnaby students, complete with signs, flags and their voices, rallied for more than two hours Tuesday night before, during and after the Burnaby school district's regular school board meeting.
 
 

The students were registering their support for policy 5.45, a draft policy to support students and employees who are (or are assumed to be) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit or queer (LGBTQ).
In comparison, almost 200 parents were holding a rally to register their opposition to the draft policy.
The students enthusiastically waved their banners and flags and even broke out into impromptu singings of O Canada when the parents started chanting against policy 5.45.
The policy's objective is to ensure all school community members learn to work together in an atmosphere of respect and safety "free from homophobia, transphobia, anti-gay harassment and exclusion, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity."
The students were part of the hundreds of people who turned out for Tuesday night rallies outside the school board offices.
While more than 100 parents carried signs that said 'No Policy 5.45', the 25 or so students had their own signs, many multi-coloured and designed only hours earlier in the library.
"I just think this is really unnecessary," said 15-year-old Moscrop student Adrianna Xue, who was carrying a sign saying 'Don't shield youth.' "Why are people protesting against a policy that does no harm? All this policy does is get more information out and allow students to talk about what their friends are going through."
Adrianna said there was a lot of misinformation being spread out in the community.
"It's good to see parents come out, but they're getting these stories about how this will mean homosexuals will come to classes to kiss," said Adrianna. "That's not what's going to happen. I think students shouldn't be sheltered. Teachers won't be teaching something bad, they'll be opening up (students') worlds to other possibilities."
Adrianna helped organize the student rally and was one of the few students allowed into the open board meeting because the meeting room had a capacity for only 60 people.
After school district staff let in the maximum amount of people, the overflow crowd was moved across Kincaid Street to the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Full story
Burnaby students support district's draft gay-positive policy