'Too much, too soon, too young' say sex-ed opponents (4 photos)

A group of protesters gathered outside Sault MPP David Orazietti's office on Great Northern Road Wednesday afternoon to voice their opposition to the Wynne government's new sex education curriculum.

The protest was one of 107 held across the province Wednesday by the Parents Alliance of Ontario.

Though the local gathering was small, it drew many honks of support from passing motorists.

Orazietti did not meet with protesters.

One of the themes of Wednesday's province-wide protests was 'Let kids be kids.'

"This is exposing too much information, too soon, and when the children are too young," said Bill Murphy, well-known local champion of traditional family values and a former Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB) trustee.

"This is going to encourage experimentation when otherwise it would not maybe occur to many children to experiment with sex," Murphy told SooToday.

"This curriculum does not mention marriage, it does not mention love, it approaches sexuality as recreation."

"This is dangerous for children, it does not engage with the dangers of HPV and STDs, it is sadly missing in those warning signs…we object to that," Murphy said.

Under the new sex-ed curriculum (to be taught in schools after classes resume next week), children in Grade 1 will begin learning the names of body parts such as penis and vagina.

Discussion of “gender expression” and masturbation will be introduced in Grade 6.

Students in Grade 7 will be given information about anal and oral sex.

The dangers of “sexting” and the exchange of explicit photos and information online will be discussed in Grade 7 as well.

In Grade 8, students will learn about “gender identity, sexual orientation and self-concept,” and also taught to make decisions pertaining to sexual activity and contraception.

"The sex education program that has been put in place was soundly rejected by Ontarians in 2010, now Kathleen Wynne, after winning an election in 2014 in which this whole curriculum wasn't even mentioned, decides to implement it with minimal consultation," Murphy said.

"In 2010 there was such rejection of it by parents across Ontario that (then Premier) Dalton McGuinty pulled the program and said there would be more consultation and it would be revisited, but this is virtually the same program under Kathleen Wynne, who was Minister of Education (2006 to 2010) when it was written." 

Also of alarm to opponents is the involvement of Ben Levin, a former Deputy Minister of Education (2004 to 2007, and again from 2008 to 2009), who was a part of Wynne's transition team after she became Premier in early 2013.

In May 2015, Levin was sentenced to three years in prison for three child porn-related offences.

"This (sex ed curriculum) has his fingerprints all over it," Murphy said.

Murphy again expressed disappointment H-SCDSB trustees chose not to second a motion put forward by trustee Kathleen Rosilius in June to ask the province to delay implementation of the new sex-ed curriculum until September 2016.

The resolution was intended to give parents and ratepayers, trustees, board officials and teachers more time to voice their opinions of the curriculum.

Murphy said opponents are aware of the dangers of sexting and online luring of children even if the new curriculum is withdrawn.

"We've already accelerated way past the normal sense of decency and modesty in society but this program will exacerbate this issue," Murphy said.

"It will bring teachers, who are authority figures, to the point where they're discussing sexual positions with children, discussing gender fluidity as though that was an accepted fact and all these things will become more acceptable in the general culture because our teachers are exposing children to it."

"There are police officers giving really good courses on the dangers of sexting and the idea of privacy and maintaining that electronically…those courses are exemplary and I think they're great," Murphy said.

"We're doing, as always, the best we can for our kids and this sex education course is not one of those things."

Supporters of the curriculum say it is necessary for these topics to be taught, in a changing world, in a responsible way by educators instead of children being exposed to a wide variety of sexual information through unreliable, potentially dangerous sources such as, for example, social media.  

Opponents say leave sex education to parents.

Supporters of the curriculum also say it clearly teaches children about the concept of consent.

Opponents are not buying it.

"If you teach a Grade 1 child that he or she has permission to say 'no' (to sex) you're also telling them they've got permission to say 'yes,' and that is illegal in Canada," Murphy said.

"Why would we think of teaching that?"

"We want David Orazietti to tell his party we have such serious concerns about this sex-ed, we would like it to be revoked, and we want consultation with parents across Ontario regarding a respectable sex ed program."

"Some of the larger demonstrations that have happened at Queen's Park have happened over this issue, 5,000 people (in April) with buses arriving…this has had significant opposition even though it hasn't been publicized well," Murphy said.

Education Minister Liz Sandals briefly spoke to reporters about the curriculum during a visit to the Sault Tuesday.

"We need to make sure we have a curriculum that's up to date and address the health and safety issues children are dealing with …we know that there are issues like sexting and internet safety."

Sandals said the government has worked with many advisors across the province in designing the new curriculum, including physical education teachers and members of ICE (Institute for Catholic Education).

(PHOTO: Bill Murphy, an opponent of the province's new sex education curriculum, at a Parents Alliance of Ontario protest outside Sault MPP David Orazietti's office, September 2, 2015. Darren Taylor/SooToday)