News Release: ‘Out In Schools’ update; unanswered questions, boy using girls’ washroom

Culture Guard news release
For immediate release
October  5, 2011

‘Out In Schools’ update: unanswered questions, boy using girls’ washroom

It looks like OUT IN SCHOOLS (“OIS”) is in damage control mode.

“Since Culture Guard’s first ‘Pornogate’ news release revealed that the program has exposed children to graphic pornography and games, there’s been considerable “editing” on the OIS website!” says Culture Guard president Kari Simpson.

In addition, Culture Guard has learned that a teenage boy at a Burnaby school—who claims he is “transgendered”—insists on using girls’ washrooms. Girls at his school say they don’t feel safe, and some Muslim girls (whose faith says males must not see their uncovered hair) right’s have been violated by his use of the girls washroom while they were using their facility.

The OIS website used to say the program had been submitted to the Ministry of Education for approval; that claim has recently been taken off the website.

The name of Romi Chandra (spouse of NDP MLA and sex activist Spencer Chandra Herbert), the author of the OIS “teachers’ guide,” has also recently been eliminated from the OIS website.

Few interviews have been granted by OIS facilitator Ross Johnstone or by Drew Dennis, Executive Director for OUT ON SCREEN, the “society” that acts as the umbrella organization for both OIS and the Queer Film Festival.  But neither man has denied Culture Guard’s factual assertions that the OIS program lures students and exposes them to graphic homosexual pornography.

Ross Johnstone did offer one comforting assurance in his interview with the BC Catholic newspaper: “Alcohol is not served…”

TELUS, one of the major corporate funders of OIS, has begun a damage control campaign.  The telecommunications giant has sent letters to individuals who protested TELUS’s financial support for an organization that uses deception to manipulate parents, students and other educational stakeholders.

Jill Schnarr, Vice President of Community Affairs for TELUS, was the signatory on letters passed on to Culture Guard by active citizens.  Ms. Schnarr went so far as to contact one individual by phone, and assured him that TELUS had ceased funding the OUT IN SCHOOLS program. However, while the “TELUS” logo has been removed from the list of supporters on the OIS website, CAYA—TELUS’ pro-gay retail division—is featured in its place.

The CAYA site still says proudly that TELUS is still funding and supporting the OIS program, which lures and grooms children with political propaganda, sex activism and graphic gay porn.

Kari Simpson, President of Culture Guard, says she will ask the organization’s fast-growing constituency—which was easily mobilized in 2001 to help obliterate the NDP, when it declared war on BC’s schools (click here for the “Most Dangerous Woman in BC” article)—to begin a letter-writing campaign to PavCo, asking them rethink any consideration of awarding TELUS naming rights to the revamped BC Place Stadium.

Simpson says, “I can forgive TELUS for its initial support of OIS, even though it was negligent not to do its due diligence; but when they start playing name games to mislead their own subscribers, that’s ethically wrong and corporately irresponsible.  Any corporation funding a program after they’ve been told it betrays the trust of parents and taxpayers, and exposes children to pornography, has earned the contempt of consumers, the government, the business community and the public.”

Mrs. Simpson has written a letter to Ross Johnstone asking 47 hard questions that she says should have been asked by school boards and responsible corporate citizens before they even touched the OIS program.

For example, Simpson states in her letter that Nancy Walt, for the Ministry of Education, has stated in writing that the Ministry of Education has not received any kind of request from OIS for approval. But until recently, the OIS website stated that Ministry approval had been requested. “How can this be?” she asks Mr. Johnstone. “Is Ms. Walt, or someone else, lying?”

Question 4 of her letter asks: “Have you falsely asserted to sponsors and/or funders that this resource had in fact been sent for approval to the Ministry of Education?”

In her complaint to the Vancouver Police Department, Mrs. Simpson pointed out that if funders were deceived to obtain funds under false pretenses that would constitute a violation under the Criminal Code. [Update: Click here to see how the complaint was rejected by the receiving officer!]

Referring to the “Fierce and Fabulous under-25” party to which OIS invited adolescents, Simpson tells Johnstone: “Now, you haven’t been quite honest with the media about your promotion of the H.I.M. organization—promotion that was not limited to just the reference to the youth resource link (in the teachers’ guide & website), but also included H.I.M.’s very visible participation at the party to which you invited students.

“I am familiar with the H.I.M. organization, and its graphically pornographic promotional material distributed and displayed in large poster form at public venues like the Pride Parade and the ‘Fierce and Fabulous’ party held August 12th,”  she declares.

She then asks: “Did you advise parents that their children would be exposed to graphic homosexual pornography? Did you advise the various Boards of School Trustees that students would be exposed to graphic pornography? Did you advise sponsors and funders of OIS that students would be exposed to graphic pornography?”

Simpson says many more questions need answering; but the most important one is: “How did this program and its social-sexual political agenda ever gain access to students?  It is grossly flawed and a complete violation of trust and the well-being of children, it is time for Premier Clark to demonstrate real leadership and call for a full investigation,” she said today.

=30=

Click here for the letter Simpson sent to Ross Johnstone
Click here for the Culture Guard video update.

Contact: Kari Simpson – cultureguard@gmail.com