Quote:
Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
I'd rather that the term "hate speech" refer to speech that is actually spoken with hatred.
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What about speech that advocates intolerance in public schools? Speech that permits hatred?
This is what the Hunspergers took issue with:
"The Board is committed to establishing and maintaining a safe, inclusive, equitable, and welcoming learning and teaching environment for all members of the school community. This includes those students, staff, and families who identify or are perceived as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit, queer or questioning their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The Board expects all members of this diverse community to be welcomed, respected, accepted, and supported in every school."
So they're saying that these
people should not be welcomed and/or respected and/or accepted and/or supported in at least some schools; and/or that the learning environment for them should not be safe and/or inclusive and/or equitable and/or welcoming.
As far as I'm concerned, that's hate - and that's not even touching on the kind of message it sends to have someone telling you you're going to burn in hell (for being who you are) elected as a leader of your province, and possibly as your representative in government. And Smith and the Wildrose party are also sending a message by failing to condemn it.
For reference, here's the Hunspergers' blog post:
http://i41.tinypic.com/j9wriu.jpg
And here's the Edmonton Public School Board policy:
http://www.epsb.ca/policy/ifa.bp.shtml