Their four cents

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by Amy Barratt

The PQ acknowledges that gay and lesbian youth suffer violence, derision and isolation, which in some cases leads to suicide; that's why they gave $40,000 to fund a program aimed at combating homophobia in the schools. At a press conference launching the program, cabinet ministers Joseph Facal and André Boulerice congratulated themselves on their involvement in the campaign as if unaware that their government's contribution amounted to approximately four cents per Quebec schoolchild.

Gai Écoute, the Montreal-based help line for gays and lesbians, used part of the grant money to pay for a study that asked Quebecers whether they thought sensitization to gay issues should be undertaken in schools. Sixty-one per cent of respondents believed such a campaign should begin as early as elementary school.

The rest of the government's largesse was used to produce a pamphlet titled "Permettez-moi d'être heureux/heureuse," which is being distributed to 2,700 schools across Quebec. The print run was 100,000, which averages out to less than 40 copies per school. The pamphlet contains such helpful hints to educators as: "Talk about homosexuality in class"; "Intervene when you witness homophobic comments or actions"; "Repress homophobic violence."

Gai Écoute has asked Facal's Ministre des Relations avec les citoyens for another $90 000 for Phase 2 of the campaign, to be aimed at the students themselves.

Perhaps someone should first commission a study to see how many of the pamphlets go directly from in-box to trash-can.