I just wrote an article praising Health Minister Christine Elliot’s changes to OHIP+. But let’s be real, that was a fluff piece. What I need to do now is bring your attention to something more important. Last week Doug Ford rolled back Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum to where it was in 1998. That’s twenty freaking years ago. Twenty years ago, HIV was stigmatized because it was synonymous with being gay. Take a minute to reflect on the fact that Doug Ford wants students not to learn about same-sex marriage (because obviously that’s too controversial) or CONSENT.
Consent is the very core of sex-ed, without it all you have is putting condoms on bananas. Better protect yourself before diving in because permission doesn’t matter, apparently.
This disgusting move should have any educated individual born in the last half century wigging out, in terms Doug will understand. I know Ford spent the ‘90s selling and doing A LOT of drugs (not ones he was prescribed either) – and this is well documented if you’re interested – so he likely came across a lot of situations that involved consent not given. He, remembering his glory days, wants to give those to some other cretin with the excuse that they never learned it was wrong. Well, we shouldn’t let him. Use your educated voice to raise some noise. Emailing your MPP to let them know how annoyed you are is one easy way to do it. I will even provide a template for you to make it brainless:
Dear MPP [insert their name here],
It has come to my attention that our new Premier has turned back the clock on sex education in this province. I am a university student and I would like to express my concern specifically about the lack of proper education on consent in the new curriculum. As my MPP, I would like to ask you to bring it up in the Legislative Assembly and do what you can to lobby against this reversal of progress.
I look forward to hearing back from you and will continue to ask you to bring this up as it is an issue of extreme importance to myself, everyone I know, and all future Ontarians.
Kind Regards from a concerned citizen,
[insert your name here]
If you don’t think your MPP would be sympathetic to your email, contact the Waterloo MPP Katherine Fife, a woman who does not strike me as a mere back-bencher.
Do what you can, this is no time for apathy.
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