Muslim Parents should be aware of what’s going on in the School’s Education system…
This information is just for awareness. (Miracle).
By: Hanna Petersen
SOGI (pronounced so-jee) stands for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and SOGI-inclusive education exists in all B.C. school districts including School District. No 57 (SD57). SOGI is not its own curriculum; instead, it is one aspect of diversity that is embedded across a range of grades and subject areas. Back on Dec. 31, 2016, all B.C. school districts and independent schools were required to include specific references to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) in their anti-bullying policies.
This requirement followed the July 2016 addition of gender identity and expression as a prohibited ground of discrimination under the B.C. Human Rights Code
(sexual orientation was already protected).
“All of B.C.’s schools need to be welcoming and safe places free of bullying. We owe it to our children to make sure they know that there are no reasons they should be bullied – and including sexual orientation and gender identity in anti-bullying policies makes that crystal clear,” said Mike Bernier, who was the education minister, at the time.
Policies and procedures that explicitly reference SOGI have been proven to reduce, discrimination, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts for all students.
A 2021 Egale national survey found that harassment on the basis of perceived sexual orientation or gender identity is experienced by both students who identify as 2SLGBTQ+ and students who do not.
This is because homophobia and transphobia can be directed at anyone and invariably have a negative effect on school culture, emotional well-being, and academic success.
Like other forms of inclusion in schools, the goal of SOGI-inclusive education is for everyone to understand the diverse society that we live in and to feel safe, valued, and
respected. All students need to see themselves and their families reflected in lessons, language, and practices.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for the creation of BC curriculum, and resources like SOGI 1 2 3 provide ready-to-use, grade-level SOGI-inclusive lesson plans that align with the curriculum.
Teachers can then customize SOGI 1 2 3 lesson plans to meet the needs of their classrooms. This might look like talking about famous 2SLGBTQ+ people in a history lesson or reading novels that include 2SLGBTQ+ characters in an English class.
There are 10 key components for effective SOGI-Inclusive policies and procedures:
Common language
All parties will be well-informed of and equipped with appropriate and respectful language.
Safety/anti-harassment
Proactive and reactive measures that include sexual orientation and gender identity will impact all students.
Self-identification
Students will have the right to self-identification, which includes the name by which they wish to be addressed and the pronouns that correspond to their gender identity.
Confidentiality
Students will have the right to the confidentiality of their sex, gender, and name. Dress guidelines
Students may express their gender identity or gender expression through what they wear to school. A dress code should be as all-inclusive as possible, which may include removing pronouns.
Gender-integrated and inclusive activities
Integrated and inclusive activities will enable students to join teams and groups that they feel correspond with their gender identity.
Educator training
All staff will be provided with knowledge and tools to develop a broad understanding of SOGI and its impact on students.
Inclusive learning
Classroom materials and activities will contain positive images and accurate information about sexual and/or gender diversity.
Facilities
Individuals may choose to use washrooms and change rooms that match their gender identity, including non-gendered single-stall washrooms and change rooms.
Inclusive extracurriculars
Students will be included and accommodated for in all extra-curricular activities regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including support to set up a Gender-Sexuality Alliance/Gay-Straight Alliance or similar club… Source: reuters.com/world
Muslim Parents Angry with Trudeau over LGBTQ Curriculum Concerns
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Muslim parents who object to their children being taught about gender identity issues in schools are being fed “misinformation and disinformation” by “the American right-wing” and the “far right.” “I’ve heard this concern many, many times and I know that it is a very real issue,” Trudeau tells a concerned Muslim parent in Calgary, in an eight-minute exchange recorded on video and posted online. Trudeau says these right-wing forces are “using those fears to drive a wedge between a government that will always stand up for all your rights, just like I will always stand up for the rights of LGBT kids, including if they’re LGBT Muslim kids,” as opposed to “the Islamophobia pushed by the previous Conservative government in a whole bunch of different ways” such as “a political campaign against the niqab” and a “snitch line against Muslims.”
Source: https://torontosun.com/
The parents added that they were “offended by Trudeau’s remarks”, saying he is either “lying or he is misinformed”. “It’s shocking that Trudeau would use the same kind of silly arguments that are being used in the United States,” Kareem Monib, a parent from Montgomery County, Maryland, told Fox News Digital. “I’m surprised that they don’t have anything else to say other than to accuse parents who are truly concerned and want to pass on their religious teachings to their kids — to say that that’s right-wing manipulation.”..
“This accusation of right-wing manipulation is actually a way for them to avoid looking at their own role and responsibility in creating this situation,” he added.
The frustration among Muslim parents in Canada reached a boiling point after audio surfaced of an Edmonton Public Schools teacher berating Muslim students for skipping school in order to avoid Pride events. Binnish Mustafa, a Montgomery Country parent to a seven-year-old special needs child, said Trudeau “really needs to go to the public school classroom and sit there and see the discussions that follow certain classroom books that are being discussed.”
Muslim Frustration
“I take much offense to what he said,” Mustafa said. “This is something that really affected us here in Montgomery County. When we spoke, we were categorized as the right wing. We were categorized as bigots.” In Islam, Christianity, and all divine religions, same-sex relationships and marriage are totally prohibited.
Regarding the position of Islam,
Allah says in the Qur’an, “O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may get to know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Qur’an 49:13)Source:aboutislam.net/muslim
Muslims opposed to LGBTQ curricula for their kids aren’t bigots
By: Yasir Qadhi
Dean of The Islamic Seminary,US
It boils down to moral values rooted firmly in one’s faith, not in a political ideology — left or right. We are witnessing a unique and welcome phenomenon: Muslims in the West are at the forefront of a social movement that transcends any one faith or ethnicity. For those following the news, protests led by parents have erupted across the United States and Canada against school boards that wish to teach schoolchildren content about the acceptability of LGBTQ lifestyles. While parents of all ethnicities and religions are involved, Muslim parents have been playing a central role in all of these cases, both as organisers and protesters, and their highly visible presence is creating waves on social media.
It is understandable for parents to be concerned. In Maryland, for example, a school district has approved books that discuss homosexuality and transgenderism as normal realities for children as young as three years old. This is state-sponsored ideological indoctrination of toddlers who can barely form complete sentences, much less think critically. Parents have a God-given duty and legal right to provide moral in,struction and guidance to their children. This includes the right of parents and their children to reject ideologies that contravene their beliefs. Yet, supposedly secular institutions like public schools are now dictating that students must accept and affirm LGBTQ ideology, at times with the threat that if they refuse to do so, they “do not belong” in their country, as one teacher in Edmonton, Canada, recently said to a Muslim student.
As Muslims, we refuse to be coerced into believing something our faith categorically condemns. This is not a political stance. It is a moral principle…
Muslims across North America should firmly root their moral values in their faith, not in a specific political ideology. To understand why this distinction is so critical, we ought to heed a lesson from our recent past. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Islam in North America faced an existential crisis. Muslims were widely portrayed as the enemy. Scholars were deported. Bearded Muslim men and hijabi women were harassed, randomly questioned and detained at airports. Many worshippers avoided praying in masjids and some Muslims even changed their first names. The reality of Muslims in North America in the first decade of this century was one of fear, anxiety and extreme alienation.
The open hostility of the North American political right towards Islam and Muslims sharply contrasted with the comparatively sympathetic left. As a matter of pragmatic political (and in some cases, literal) survival, Muslims flocked to the liberal political parties of Canada and the United States. These left-wing institutions gave Muslims the best chance to survive against anti-Muslim forces largely represented by the conservative right. But embracing the left meant accepting an entire package of causes, some of which aligned ideologically with Islamic ethics (such as combatting racism), while others did not (such as the legalisation of certain drugs).
To be clear, Islamic law differentiates between a desire, which is in itself not sinful, and the deed, which could be a sin. Those struggling with same-sex desires but wishing to abide by Islamic law are our full brethren in faith and deserve all the love and rights of believers. They stand in contrast to those who flout Islamic law and take pride in disobedience.
Muslim politicians and influencers, in particular, should be careful not to make religious claims on behalf of our faith. Our politics is not our ideology and our ideology is neither left nor right. Our ideology is centred in our unshakeable faith, grounded in our immutable creed, and firmly rooted in the timeless words of God and the teachings of His final Messenger. We are a “Middle Nation” and, as the Quran says (2:143), our role is to be moral exemplars for mankind.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own. Source: aljazeera.com/opinions
