Imagine hanging out at a local high school – a place teens spend a significant portion of their
day – and the toxic atmosphere that kind of language and attitude creates. Now imagine if you were
a teen who’s lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual.
This toxic atmosphere, whether intended or accidental, is just one of the things Ontario’s Safe
Schools Initiative - Bill 157 – was intended to address when it came into effect on February 1, 2010.
The bill made it mandatory for schools to, among other things, create safe spaces for LGBT students.
Schools were obligated to comply with students wanting to form a gay-straight alliance program.
Local activist Joey Wright didn’t wait long to put Bill 157 to the test. He took on the task of
challenging the area school board and starting a gay-straight alliance program at Walkerville
Collegiate Institute. It took Wright more than three attempts to finally get the program approved.
“I was working on my final proposal for a meeting between the school board, myself, students
at Walkerville and several community organizations,” said Wright. “I formulated my plan and
presented what a gay-straight alliance program is and what it’s comprised of. I basically told them
all that they should know about a GSA.”
Wright informed the board director that students would continue to push for a GSA, and pointed
out that the province mandated these groups whether they were supported or not. His proposal
garnered media attention and stirred up a lot of commotion, leaving the school board not much of
an option but to approve the program.
“That was how my entire family found out I was gay. The next day when everybody read the
news it was like, ‘Oh surprise, look at me, I’m fabulous’.”
Initially, the Walkerville GSA had a list of rules that needed to be followed. These included
submitting an agenda five days prior to the meeting. The agenda and topics of discussion had to be
approved and the principal had to attend every meeting. Walter Cassidy, a Walkerville teacher, says
the principal no longer controls the GSA and the stipulations no longer exist. The students run the
programs at their schools. While the GSA was initiated for activism and creating change within the
school, Cassidy says the program has become a hangout space for students to chat.
“What it really was based around was anti-bullying in general and it was open to everybody. It
wasn’t just about being gay or lesbian,” said Wright. “We wanted to reduce the amount of
homophobia, bullying and harassment at Walkerville. That’s all it was when I ran it.”
In the five years since Bill 157’s implementation not many figures have been released to the
public about LGBTQ bullying specifically; it’s hard to say how effective the legislation has been. But
high schools in Ontario are making progress. On record there are approximately 147 gay-straight
alliance programs in Ontario school systems. In Windsor-Essex there are 15 schools with a GSA.
Gay-straight alliances help start dialogue and conversation. Cassidy believes conversation is one
Walkerville Collegiate Institute,
Windsor’s oldest high school,
became the first to host a
Gay-Straight Alliance under the
provisions of Bill 157
February 2015 - The HUB 21