In Canada Schools, Tracy Morgan and don’t say gay

School boards, their stance toward queer kids and what is taught to students — like Tracy Morgan — are inconsistent.

The Catholic school boards of Ontario won’t allow GSAs, rainbows(except if they masquerade as cupcakes) or lesbian comics in the schools. They are against bullying, but they refuse to create a safe space for queer kids.

On the other hand, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is preparing to march in the Ottawa Pride parade alongside a yellow school bus decorated with rainbow flags. The board is active in creating places for queer kids to interact with others in the annual Rainbow Youth Forum. They also have Donna Blackburn on the board — a lesbian mother who is out and proud.

And then you have the extreme — across the border in Tennessee in the United States.

Although it is not the school board but the state government that introduced the Don’t Say Gay bill, it directly affects schools, students and teachers.

The bill prohibits the teaching of homosexuality to elementary and middle school students.

The original bill banned any teaching about sexuality that isn't hetero. But apparently, that wording was too vague for Republican Senator Stacey Campfield.

He amended the wording to limit any instruction or material made available or provided to a public elementary or middle school exclusively to “age-appropriate natural human reproduction science.”

Campfield explained that the language was appropriate because “homosexuals don’t naturally reproduce.” Basically, teachers would not be allowed to say, “We’re going to teach about homosexuality.”

And that brings me to Tracy Morgan.

On June 10, 30 Rock star Morgan delivered a homophobic comedic rant live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The comic thought it was humorous to say that he would stab his son to death if he told him he were gay.

It wasn’t and the comic has been apologizing ever since.

The latest rant is that Morgan would love his son if he were gay, and he has agreed to go to Nashville, Tennessee, to protest the Don’t Say Gay bill. He is also teaming up with GLAAD in a campaign to combat anti-gay bullying.

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