A question about where candidates stand on gay-straight alliances (GSAs) brought out some of the loudest — and faintest — applause during an Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency all candidates debate April 4 at the TransCanada Theatre.
The discussion was over Bill 24, passed by the governing New Democratic Party (NDP).
In essence, it makes it mandatory for schools to create GSAs if students want one and does not allow LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, transgender or queer) students to be outed unless those students wish to be. That includes not informing parents that their child is involved with the group.
NDP candidate Kyle Johnston got the loudest, longest applause for his stand.
"I'm not going to go into much detail but I just think that it's imperative that we believe that every student has the right to join a GSA and have the safety of not being outed to their parents or anybody for that matter. It's up to them to decide that," he said, sparking loud applause and cheers.
Allen MacLennan of the Freedom Conservative Party got the faintest applause.
"I really can't understand how children at such an early age would know whether they're homosexuals or not. Is it a man in a park who told them they were homosexuals? I really don't get that," he said.
"I mean there's Criminal Code violations. You can't have sexual relations unless you're 16 years old. So what's going on here? These children are already sexually active and they're below 16 years old?
"There are so many laws against ... that completely prohibit parents not knowing about their children's sexual activity.
"I mean, is it the case that there's some sort of gay gene? Well, there isn't. This is a learned process. So I would say absolutely no way that we would allow this sort of proliferation that would be predominant when you have the parents ... (not) knowing what their children are doing."
He referenced a Calgary Herald story about children being taken to GSA functions by a "facilitator" without their parents' knowledge. One case involved a 13-year-old boy.
"Thirteen years old kind of thing and teaching them about all sorts of things that I don't even suspect, so forget it, as far as I'm concerned," McLennan said.
Nathan Cooper, the current Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA and a candidate for the United Conservative Party, gave a very nuanced answer.
"I think this is a very important question and also near and dear to my heart," Cooper said. "The United Conservative Party and myself personally support gay-straight alliances.
"We believe that they are an important tool in ensuring that our schools are safe," he said, adding, "it's very critical that children aren't outed to the community or anywhere else.
"But we also believe that there are some rare circumstances where teachers and principals need to be able to work together with parents for the best interests of a child.
"There may in fact be a circumstance where notifying a parent can actually be in the best interest of a child. While we don't support mandatory notification, which would be, as other parities have said, that the United Conservative Party wants to out gay kids, nothing could be further from the truth.
"But we do believe that there may be a position that is more balanced between it being against the law for parents and teachers to communicate about the safety of their children, that we can trust the professional judgment of teachers and principals to know when the situations that may arise where notification or communication around safety may be in the best interest in the child.
"It's very similar to every other province across the country," Cooper said. "We would continue to have the strongest protections for GSAs and schools right across the country on a go-forward basis and I think it's critical that at the end of the day, every child, no matter what their circumstances are, feels safe in our schools."
"I stand for GSAs and a lot of people here in the room, when it comes down to Bill 24, people say, 'I as a parent have a right to know whether or not my child is in a GSA,'" said Chase Brown of the Alberta Party.
"And most parents are loving, caring people, right? I'm not saying that they're not. But what we have to understand is that there are people in this province who still think they can beat the gay out of your kids.
"It's a big province full of a lot of people and there's diversity. So what happens when we open up the opportunity for kids who are part of the LGBTQ community to be outed against their will you're putting them in a dangerous situation.
"I'm telling you right now, it is going to put kids in dangerous situations and I... can't do that, and neither will the Alberta Party so we stand with GSAs. We did before and we always will," he added, sparking loud applause.
Dave Hughes of the Alberta Advantage Party said he believes in a situation that is " tolerant, respectful to all, everybody involved in our education system, whatever their lifestyle choice is."
