Parents angry over 'safe spaces' for LGBTQ students disrupt York Catholic board meeting

Police were called in to deal with angry parents after they disrupted a Catholic school board meeting north of Toronto earlier this week over the issue of safe spaces for LGBTQ students.

The parents attended the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) meeting Tuesday evening in Aurora to oppose what are known as "safe space" stickers, which are used by some teachers to signal acceptance to LGBTQ children and teens. 

Carlo Ravenna, one of the parents, spoke directly to the board about the stickers in a pre-approved deputation. 

"They shouldn't say 'safe space.' They should say 'danger zone,'" he said at the meeting. "Preaching confusion in the guise of inclusivity and acceptance is truly disgusting."

The parents say the stickers, and any LGBTQ-inclusive messaging, are at odds with their Catholic faith.

Sheree di Vittorio, another parent who made a virtual deputation, told the board, "Catholic schools should not allow transgender or LGBT students to attend."

"It is most certainly not appropriate to engage kids to be open to these ideologies. There are biblical reasons why homosexuality is considered a sin … regardless of what Pope Francis may think," she said.

After the two deputations, a crowd of parents in the gallery became increasingly disruptive, the board said in a statement sent to CBC Toronto.

Shouting and cries of,"You're all pathetic!" and, "Stay away from our kids" can be heard on video of the meeting. 

Eventually, the board members were forced to pause the meeting, York Regional Police were called in and many people in the gallery decided to leave on their own, according to the board's statement.

The parents' reaction comes after the stickers were distributed in January, but "safe space" signage has been available to teachers at YCDSB for years, said Mike Totten, president of the York region branch of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. 

"The stickers were first produced by our provincial elective body in 2013," he told CBC Toronto. 

Many of those initial stickers had been lost or damaged over the past 10 years and teachers began asking for replacements about a year ago, Totten said. 

The school board and parents weren't consulted on the reissue because Totten felt he wasn't introducing anything new.