One third of pupils kept home on "rainbow day" at Canadian school

[Rainbowshit]

Yikes.

I guess there's more disquiet about this stuff in Canada than is reported.

lfpress.com/news/local-news/rainbow-day-why-did-one-third-of-kids-at-one-london-school-stay-home

There's a linked article

lfpress.com/news/local-news/courageous-conversations-needed-over-rainbow-day-absences-union-leader

Gosh that confused me talk of London and Thames Valley but being Canadian 🤣

What's really nice is that every quote was gentle and aiming to defuse tension and encourage dialogue.

UK media please copy.

I don't think it is a good thing. LGB people are going to be damaged by this too.

If schools are not going to listen to parents concerns then this will be the outcome and what should be positive messaging has a negative impact.

It seems to have been predominantly muslim children who were kept off school.

I don't know if it was incredible naivety to not predict such an outcome, when according to the article this district has welcomed thousands of Syrian refugees.

Who thought Rainbow day would be attended by these children. And why is it that inclusivity seems to constantly end up being non-inclusive?

Why does there need to be a rainbow day in schools.
The only appropriate place to discuss sex is sex ed.
It's not exactly inclusive if kids attending is mandatory and it's being rammed down their throats..kinda like brainwashing.

What kind of phobe are you? Or just ignorant?

Because, believe it or not, there will be members of the LGBT community at these schools, and we would rather they not feel like they are abnormal

So having a special day for them and them alone...makes them feel 'normal'?

Can you actually not understand why these things are needed or are you arguing for the sake of it?

We would rather the disabled children didn’t feel abnormal as well. Nor do we want the children who are from a ethnic minority or who are looked after, or who have an unusual family set up or any other thing that makes them slightly different to the majority to feel abnormal.

We don’t have themed days that are all about them while simultaneously excluding others.

Instead there could be days that celebrate and value differences without highlighting one already very vocal group.

This☝️

We would rather the disabled children didn’t feel abnormal as well. Nor do we want the children who are from a ethnic minority or who are looked after, or who have an unusual family set up or any other thing that makes them slightly different to the majority to feel abnormal.

Absolutely. DD had an LGTBQ+ awareness day at work the other day - I didn't say anything to her, didn't want to start an argument on our family chat - but I did want to ask if they were having a disability awareness day (far more relevant to her job I think) or a racial inclusion day...

Look, this is a manifestation of homophobia in Muslim communities. It’s not a brave stand for women’s rights. Muslim communities are overwhelmingly homophobic and this is a much more pervasive opinion than in the Christian churches.

Just last night as I walked home three young Muslim men were loudly talking about how they would like to blowtorch gays to death and were laughing as they acted this out.

As a supporter of the human rights of gay men and lesbians, this protest at the school is nothing to celebrate.

3rd generation Canadians are not ‘new’

<<misses point>>

They are using their feet to make a point because their voices have been silenced.

These "special" days wind me up. My daughter's school started black history month. And she's been told she's a slave and her predecessors were at the back of the bus. No dear, yours are called queen amina and they led armies to battle and never saw a fecking bus. She was the kid in school and now she's the black kid in school. There's a better way of making minority kids comfortable in school than singling them out. Including lgb kids.

Ah so disabled people don't have a day so LGBTQ+ can't either?

It’s an elementary school, attended by children aged between 5 and 11. It’s not just Muslims who think that these children, the majority of whom are pre pubertal, don’t really need to be celebrating sexual diversity.

Except that this wasn't about the LGBT community.

Not phobic anything thanks. Nor ignorant - though this is the dog-whistle trope people like you trot out to anyone who doesn't agree that "rainbow" this or that or gender ideology should apply to and be "celebrated" in every single aspect of peoples lives. Now it's seemingly necessary for children in schools to be forced to have a day of being "educated" about inclusivity of all sexualities/gender/binaries etc. Why?

It is inappropriate and unnecessary to have children, and by extension their parents being forced to participate in "rainbow day" - basically a day celebrating adult sexual practices - to fulfil a schools woke agenda. Absolutely no reason for schools to be adding this to their list of worthy causes - just a box-ticking exercise.

I am straight, but I don't see anyone up for celebrating "hetero day"? Coz that would be daft wouldn't it?

Because, believe it or not, there will be members of the LGBT community at these schools, and we would rather they not feel like they are abnormal

It's a primary school. The chances are that most kids aren't thinking about who they'll be shagging. Or want to shag. And one day isn't going to fight the tide of heteronormative stuff they receive the other 364 days of the year.

I don't actually mind nice Pride stuff in schools generally. LGB stuff is important (DDD is bisexual). But let's be honest, this is more about branding than inclusivity. Rainbows are just nicer than kids with disabilities or neurodiversity or BAME or newcomer kids or any one of the many many kids are are excluded. Actually in primary school. Not in five or ten years from then.

This doesn't sound like a protest for women's rights though, or in support of anything else.

I read both articles and the main issue seems to be the lack of communication between the school and parents about what was happening on Rainbow day.

Parents filled in the blanks with what they've heard on the news and social media. And the kids stayed home.

When you have a diverse society, with large populations of different faiths, ethnicities, and beliefs there will be times when people say no I don't want to be a part of that. And that needs to be accepted. They didn't say no you can't do that because of my religion, they said I can't do that because of my religion.

I hope there's no backlash against the Muslim community, and that the different groups I.e the school, parents, kids and school board come to an understanding.

In my very humble opinion there are certain loud voices who are damaging the LGB + community. I have never seen nor faced the level of homophobia that I now see now on social media.

Anybody read the book it mentions in the article?