The SOGI 123 program remains in place in B.C. schools, despite claims from the BC Conservatives on Monday that the government pulled funding.
The program serves as the province’s framework to create more inclusive school enrolments for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
It has also become a political issue, with BC Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay saying it promotes radical gender ideology and indoctrination.
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The ARC Foundation, which developed the program, confirms its funding was cut in the last provincial budget, but that does not mean the SOGI program has ended.
“So we’ve already made staffing changes internally, and long-term, the funding cuts can affect the infrastructure that we’ve created that supports educators every day,” Aditi Loveridge with the ARC Foundation told Global News.
“So that means the training, the guidance, the professional learning, the phone friend, the real-time responsiveness that we’re able to provide right now, that could potentially be impacted by the funding cuts in the future.”
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Loveridge said that since SOGI was implemented, it has been shown to reduce bullying for all students, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
A statement from B.C.’s Education Minister Lisa Beare said that “every child has a right to feel safe and included at school.”
Parents with questions about SOGI are encouraged to contact their child’s school.
ARC seems to be more worried about their jobs.“we’ve already made staffing changes internally, and long-term, the funding cuts can affect the infrastructure that we’ve created”
Oh well. The teachers just won’t teach it and move on to the next subject.
Good grief. Look if this going to happen at all introduce it once the kids are old enough to have some mature understanding of it.
Keep it out of the elementary schools and maybe intro it in grade 11.
Our children are challenged enough going thru normal puberty, school and life why add a bunch of gender confusion to the matter with ideas that really only impact 1% of the population.
I don’t have an issue with overall inclusion or acceptance. I just don’t see why it needs separate instruction or lessons for what is only 1% of the population. We have already strayed far enough away from the basics of reading, writing, and maths so that we are falling behind many developing nations in terms of core academic scores.
I don’t see this how SOGI or T&R for that matter, closes that gap. Seriously what does a multiple choice test look like for SOGI. Q1: Choose the right pronoun for a bi-curious non binary two spirited person. A- She, B -He, C-They, D- It, W- All of the above, F- None of the above.
@ Teach Reading – the problem is that there is far too much money for these sickos to make off the child-molestation-for-profit scheme. All the puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries are huge money.
SOGI, glad I grew up in an earlier decade,
Where you went to school to learn, reading, math, history, ect.
No one was feeding you any agenda, or confusion.
Education is paid for by tax payers, not a magic government menu tree, and I beleive what SOGI is taught at home is their business, school, I am paying out of my tax dollars, so teach the basics.