Yes, i did just send this.

An open letter to Steinbach Christian High School principal Scott Wiebe, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, pastor Ray Duerksen of Southland Church, and Steinbach Mayer Chris Goertzen,

I have been reading of your objection to the Public Schools Amendment Act (Safe and Inclusive Schools Bill 18. That you claim to do so in the name of religious freedom concerns me most.

Your desire to continue to judge, condemn, and isolate LGBTTQ teens little resembles the Christ of whom I have been taught, not only by my current church (Augustine United Church), but by the Roman Catholic Church with which I was raised (Many of whose priests have different views of Christian kindness than the upper echelons of the papcy suggest) and the Mennonite family into which I married (who are to me some of the greatest shining examples of true Christian compassion I have had the pleasure of encountering).

I do understand how wildly varied interpretations of Gospel have created schisms, such that the umbrella of Christianity can encompass different interpretations of the importance of different passages. I accept this difference. However, I cannot completely fail to note that the Christ of whom I was taught was the one who spent time with those who were scorned and isolated in his day, who supped with prostitutes and tax collectors, with women, with foreigners - with people both derided both for the nature they were born with and for those who made sinful choices.

I do not think that this Christ would approve of saying in essence that it is acceptable to bully homosexual or transgendered teenagers -- a group that is already at higher risk of depression and suicide specifically because of how they are often treated by their age peers.

I think He would be more likely to join a Gay-Straight Alliance himself, so that He could better speak to these vulnerable people Himself, and bring them into His light.

However, even those among you who can see this vision of Christ may not have the strength of His all-embracing love within you. I understand; we are all sinners, we all fall short of the ideal to be found in Him, and in all aspects of God. It is what makes us human, much less Christian. However, to bar others the chance to attempt to be Christ-like in our openness to the rejected goes beyond the reasonable failure to fully live His ideal and into the realm of actively rejecting Christ in our own hearts.

However, as regards the constitutional right to freedom of religion, I have to ask, does your faith truly require you to have permission to bully vulnerable teenagers? It is one thing to have an opinion on homosexuality based on the Biblical teachings, and nobody is trying to deny you that right. We cannot change the minds and hearts of people who do not wish their minds or hearts changed, and I for one have not the strength or Christ-like courage to try.

However, it is quite another to force those views on someone who does not share your religion, and another thing still to deny a vulnerable person a safe place to go, such as an alliance with fellow students, to escape the persecution of cruel peers - especially as to deny them this safe alliance also leaves such students vulnerable to those who condemn LGBTTQ with no religious motive.

Moreover, Bill 18 as I understand it does not require the existence of a gay-straight alliance, it merely prevents the school from forbidding such an activity. If the Steinbach Christian High School is succeeding in imparting those morals which its Principal, teachers, and presumably the parents of its students desire, then the students will have no reason to want to form such an alliance, and the inability to prevent it will be moot.

Here we come to the crux. The great concern against religious freedom seems to be that merely by the existence of measures to prevent their active persecution, this bill will somehow encourage the transformation of the children of Steinbach churches, leaders, parents, and teachers into homosexuals or transgendered people.

Do you truly think that your faith - and your heterosexuality and heteronormativity - are so fragile that the mere fact that someone cannot any longer be bullied for being gay will magically turn a straight child gay? The majority of people are, and remain, heterosexual. Those that are gay are not made so by a mere lack of bullying. The only difference is that fewer such teenagers will be driven to suicide by the treatment of their peers.

If in any way anyone suggests that the suicide of a child for being born gay is an acceptable price -- I make clear that I do not think anyone here believes as much, only that it is an obvious potential consequence of your concerns over religious freedom -- please direct them to look again at the gospels of Christ.

Still, I do understand this fear. It is in a parent's nature to worry that, in the sway of outside influences, all the efforts of parenting, of faith, of teaching, will come to naught and their child will turn out differently from what they hope. I sympathize, truly I do. However, I do not believe that the primal fears of failure at parenting should be enough to drive policy. I do not think our desire to protect our children from dire influences outside the family and the church should be the driving force behind wanting to strike down legislation against bullying.

I, too, have a son. I too worry that someday, in spite of my best efforts, he will turn out to believe things I do not believe. I fear that for all I wish to show him the ways of Christ, he will turn into someone who condemns those who are different from him. To that end, however, I can only be the best example I can be.

So I wish you and your families good health, good fortune, and prosperity. Yours in faith,


Lenora Rose P

CC: Winnipeg Free Press, Minister of Education Nancy Allan