Aside from the fact that the term “Love Day” appears to be lifted from an episode of the Simpsons, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is proposing an end to Father’s and Mother’s Days [Ed. note: EFTO’s president has refuted this claim]. Suggesting “Love Day” and “GAMES (for Grandmothers, Aunts, Mom, Even Sisters) Day”, ETFO is doing nothing more here than stirring up trouble where there was none before.
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day simply do not deny any manner of inclusion. I have known a number of Queer couples who made the choice to become parents in my lifetime. At no point in time did they ever feel the Hallmark manufactured ‘holidays’ excluded the unique nature of their family.
The vast majority of families are made up of at least one mother or father. For those that do not fit into this mould this does do anything to assist them. Rather, it alerts their peers to the concept that their family is different; less normal.
Joe Warmington, of the Toronto Sun, recently added his two cents saying that those who have opposed such politically correct changes have been lumped in with notorious homophobes such as Dr. Charles McVety, President of the Christian College of Canada. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Families made up of two mothers or two fathers or one mother or one father or an aunt and uncle or grandparents, and so on, are just like any other family made up of a mother and a father. Special treatment does not create the equality that ETFO is seeking. It merely singles out those that are different.
Is this really what we endeavour to our children?
To date, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and/or any trustee have elected to comment on the issue. For my own part, however, I take a unique perspective. I am an openly bisexual male who has married a woman and begun a family with her. While our daughter will have a mother and father, she will also have an understanding of the fact that some families are made different. That does not make them any less normal. It is important that we teach our children that all families are created equal.
ETFO is simply inserting itself where it is not necessary. Perhaps its members would prefer that it concentrate on collective bargaining, rather than wasting time digging up problems where they did not previously exist.
