Melissa Willcott says Ontario politicians need to stop worrying so much about the name of a club and focus more on what it does.
The 18-year-old Grade 12 student at St. Ignatius High School hasn’t had homophobic insults thrown at her directly, but says she has heard some of her peers use the phrase “that’s so gay” when describing something negatively.
She and fellow classmate Alister Heaney helped found the school’s Positive Space Initiative.
Having gay-straight alliance clubs has become a controversial issue at Queen’s Park. Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a new anti-bullying legislation that will allow students to call anti-homophobic groups or clubs gay-straight alliances.
Currently, schools and school boards have a say in what students clubs can be called. If a school or board has issue with calling a student club a gay-straight alliance, than students can be told to choose another name for their club.
The province’s legislation, as currently proposed, would give students the right to name their anti-homophobic clubs gay-straight alliances even if the school board opposes the wording.
The move has received criticism and opponents include Catholic leaders like Cardinal Thomas Collins, the Archbishop of Toronto. The Canadian Press reported that Collins blasted the bill as stepping on the rights of religious freedom.
“Please consider the implications for all when legislation is enacted that overrides the deeply held beliefs of any faith community, and intrudes on its freedom to act in a way that is in accord with its principles of consciences,” Collins told the Canadian Press.
Meanwhile, McGuinty said during an interview with national media that words do matter and that is why the government is taking its position on the use of gay-straight alliances. He added that he wanted his government to send a strong message to young citizens that they are accepted for who they are.
MPP’s were scheduled to debate the issue at Queen’s Park Wednesday, but the matter was pushed back.
Willcott said politicians should stop worrying about what a club’s name is and focus more on helping students.
“I think they are getting too caught up on the name,” Willcott said.
“It’s the concept behind the name that we need to focus on. It’s to get people to start talking about these issues that have been pushed back in the closet for so long. We really need to start addressing these topics in order for problems to start changing.”
She said being in a Catholic school, they often are criticized for not being open to Gay-Straight Alliance type clubs. Being a member of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender group, Willcott wanted to prove the critics wrong by founding an all-encompassing group that functioned within a Catholic school.
She said it can be difficult to stand up to peers when they say a phrase like ‘that’s so gay’ but it’s equally as difficult to walk away and pretend like it didn’t bother her.
She said the phrase isn’t addressed in schools and more people need to talk about it so students know that it’s not appropriate to say.
“Being personally affected by the ignorance in my school I wanted to do something to change it for the generations that follow me,” Willcott said. “It’s my final year and I started this group when I was in Grade 11. I’m on my way out but I can change it for students.”
Heaney shared Willcott’s opinion but admitted it would be nice to have a more recognizable name.
“The name honestly doesn’t matter all too much,” Heaney said.
“It would be nice to have it labeled as a gay-straight alliance because that’s what it is popularly known as. We often explain the group as basically a gay-straight alliance that’s accepting of all causes. It’s that difference in language that causes confusion. But the Positive Space initiative is here for support and that’s what we’re at the end of the day.”
Heaney worked on a film that highlights some of the positive aspects of the Positive Space initiative. Heaney, who will be returning to St. Ignatius to complete the film, said the Positive Space initiative lets students know there is support out there for them.
“Thunder Bay hasn’t been a very pride strong place until recently,” Heaney said. “Just having an initiative in a Catholic school is great. We are here and we’re here for support. Having that support available is going to save some lives.”
Ted Vaillant, a teacher at St. Ignatius, said the group is meant as a safe space for anyone being marginalized. He said the primary role of the group has been dealing with homophobic comments but they didn’t want to exclude anyone else by making it a strictly gay-straight alliance.
“The students led the discussion on was gay-straight alliance all-encompassing enough for students who don’t particularly fall into that group,” Vaillant said.
“We settled on this name through consultation through me by trying to be sensitive to the school board and to the students at the same time. I realize that this is a topic of discussion right now but we can call it anything as long as we’re there for kids.”
