Canada: Human rights tribunal to probe ‘homophobic’ Catholic school
A human rights tribunal will look into a teenager’s claims that the Catholic school he attends engages in “homophobic discrimination”.
According to The Globe and Mail, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recieved a complaint from teenage Christopher Karas listing more than 35 allegations against the school, École Secondaire Catholique Sainte-Famille.
The 18-year-old claims that teachers facilitate anti-gay bullying, marginalised gays in the classroom, and refused to teach about gay issues.
He was also prevented from putting quotes from Harvey Milk on posters.
Karas said: “I wanted to go to the human-rights tribunal because it was important for me to have accountability for what had happened, but also most importantly to be heard. They’re discriminating against me.
“I think the way [the school board] responded to my human-rights-tribunal application is a lot like the way they’ve responded to me.
“They’ve rejected what I’ve said. They haven’t tried to constructively address the issues.”
The school board rejected his claims of homophobia, saying: “there was no discrimination based on sexual orientation”.
Karas is seeking a letter of apology and $25,000 (£13500) in compensation, as well as “public interest remedies”, such as sensitivity training for staff and students, and gender-neutral bathrooms.
