Is Doug Ford anti-Catholic? He’s forcing Catholic school boards to adopt gender ideology

The Ford “conservative” government is continuing its bullying of Ontario Catholic schools into adopting the full program of neo-Marxist, gender ideology–the very same gender ideology that Pope Francis condemned as “demonic” and comparable to “the educational policies of Hitler.”

Last week in a vote of eight to four, the Toronto Catholic District School Board voted to add “gender identity” into the Board’s code of conduct. This flies directly in the face of Catholic moral teaching on sexuality.

The vote was taken to comply with the Ford Government’s diktat, known as “Policy/Program Memorandum (PPM) 128.”. PPM 128 demanded gender theory be adopted into all schools’ codes of conduct which will affect disciplining of students as well as practices for hiring teachers.

PPM 128 is most offensive for Catholic schools because they enjoy constitutional protection against anti-religious ideology that other school boards do not. Section 93 of the Constitution Act,1867, as well as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, guarantee that Ontario Catholics have a right to run their own schools and teach the Catholic faith in those schools.

As Pope Francis has pointed out, gender ideology contravenes Catholic moral teaching. But it is also contrary to natural law. For those who might be behind the times, gender ideology is the unscientific, ideological theory that there are many more genders beyond male and female. Sometimes there are six gender identities, sometimes seventy-two gender identities or even a “limitless” number. Gender ideology promotes the fiction that gender is merely a social construct. In other words, if a man declares himself to be a woman well, then, he is a woman.

When some brave Toronto Catholic school trustees offered resistance to PPM 128, a letter was issued from the Government’s Ontario Human Rights Commission demanding board action on gender ideology. When further resistance was met, Ford sent his Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, to insist that the Catholic school board buckle to Ford’s gender ideology policy. As Minister Lecce put it, “My message to the board is quite clear. My expectation is that every child irrespective of their differences can see themselves reflected in schools and more importantly that they will adhere to the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

Ultimately, several trustees caved in to pressure from Doug Ford’s minions including Lecce and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Shame on them. But, also, shame on Doug Ford and his new ideology! Kathleen Wynne must be so proud of him!

Am I surprised? Not in the least. Ford’s procession has been steady and swift to worship at the altar of gender ideology he now promotes with the same zeal and gusto as Kathleen Wynne. During the leadership campaign that made him Ontario PC Leader, Doug Ford said he was against this nonsense. Rightly, he condemned gender identity theory, calling it “Liberal ideology” and promised to stop forcing it on Ontario schools, parents and students, especially in the sex-ed curriculum.

However, almost immediately upon becoming Premier, Ford flip-flopped on this promise. Within days of his swearing in as Premier, Ford’s first Education Minister promised that “gender identity” and “gender ideology” would remain in the new Ford curriculum.

Now that he is Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford is pursuing gender ideology with the zeal of a convert. He is forcing his new beliefs on the Ontario public starting with bullying Ontario school boards, both Catholic and public.

In November 2018, at the Ontario PC policy convention, I sponsored a resolution that condemned gender ideology and called on the Ford government to stop forcing it on Ontario students. This resolution was passed by over two-thirds of the party delegates present. Ford’s initial reaction was stupefied speechlessness, but, two days later, he sputtered, “I’m not moving forward with that. It’s done,” and he dismissed the resolution.

Then, in court proceedings earlier this year, Ford government lawyers re-affirmed that all the controversial topics of Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum, including gender theory, can still be taught in Ontario schools. In March, the Education Minister re-confirmed that gender ideology would remain in the Ford sex-ed school curriculum. And remain it did!

Now, a full seven years after the words “gender identity” and “gender expression” were added to the Ontario Human Rights Act, it has fallen to the “conservative” Premier Doug Ford to crack the whip and force gender ideology into the code of conduct of Ontario’s school boards. Even, the Catholic ones.

Who could have predicted that Ford would be an even bigger flip-flopper than former PC leader Patrick Brown? Even more shocking, who could have anticipated that Ford would move to the left of the neo-Marxist former Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne? Doug Ford’s new positioning as a devout worshipper at the altar of political correctness has not yet bottomed out. How far will he go?

Wynne’s anti-religious bigotry, coupled with her ideological contempt for parental rights, has been well-documented. Beyond gender ideology and her sex-ed curriculum there were several other pieces of anti-parent, anti-religion legislation which passed under her watch–all of which have remained on the books, strictly enforced by Doug Ford.

The question remains: Why? Why is Doug Ford behaving like a bigot against all religious people? Why is he so determined to force this neo-Marxist gender ideology on the students and teachers and parents of Ontario?

Premier Ford, we await your answer.