(The following article is from the May 16-31,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

When Vancouver's Catholic Little Flower Academy fired Lisa Reimer from her position teaching music because she is a lesbian parent, the episode sets off alarms about using public funds to subsidize private schools.

     Reimer had told the school administration that she was a lesbian, and that her partner was expecting a baby. Last December, well in advance of their son's birth, she formally requested parental leave. The request was denied in January, and then Reimer was suddenly dismissed without warning.

     In citing the reason, the principal stated the school had no concerns about Reimer's ability to teach. In fact, Little Flower Academy was very pleased with her performance. Reimer was told that many parents had complained after becoming aware of the fact that she had recently become a parent and that her spouse was a woman. The families were said to be worried that "the girls might follow Reimer's lead."

     "Little Flower Academy is a publicly funded religious school," said Steve LeBel of BC's Pride Education Network. "They are clearly discriminating against Ms. Reimer on the basis of her family status and sexual orientation. In 2010, it is absolutely unfathomable that any school would insinuate that students could be led into homosexuality by having a lesbian teacher and then fire that teacher. British Columbians want to know if the minister of education, Margaret MacDiarmid, is comfortable giving public funding to a private school that discriminates based on sexual orientation?"

     "This kind of discrimination and homophobia could never happen in a public school," said Glen Hansman, a vice-president with the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association. "This case is a clear example why private schools should not receive any kind of public funding whatsoever. All teachers have the right to a safe and accepting workplace. Catholic schools should be no different."

     Reimer will return to the public school system in September as a teacher in Vancouver. The Vancouver School Board has a policy which explicitly protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) teachers from discrimination. The VSB policy, in keeping with the BC Human Rights Code and collective agreement, supports and protects LGBT teachers who choose to be out in the workplace.