The group The Parents' Voice was formed to oppose the Burnaby School Board's Sexual Identity/Gender Identity Policy. Policy #5.45 (PDF) was created to "ensure that all members of the school community work together in an atmosphere of respect and safety regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity." The Policy has an 8-fold purpose:
a) Support inclusion of all students and employees in all aspects of school life, irrespective of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
b) Improve understanding of the lives of LGBTQ+ people and their positive contributions to society.
c) Define appropriate terms, behaviours and actions to promote greater awareness of, and responsiveness to, the deleterious effects of homophobia, transphobia, anti-gay harassment and exclusion.
d) Provide effective procedures to respond to complaints of homophobic, transphobic and heterosexist behaviours including discrimination, harassment and exclusion.
e) Promote a systemic response through staff and professional development which strives to identify and address educational practices, policies, and procedures that perpetuate homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism..
f) Make resources and support services available and visible for LGBTQ+ students and staff throughout schools.
g) Act collectively to reduce homophobia, transphobia and other systemic barriers that are faced by LGBTQ+ students and staff who are ‘in the closet’ and feel they must hide their true identities.
h) Commit to ongoing, constructive and open dialogue with communities who identify themselves on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity to increase co-operation and collaboration among home, school and the community.
Spokesperson Gordon World accused the School Board of disrespecting parents, claiming that the murder of Aaron Webster was not an anti-gay hate crime as claimed by the School Board, and that gay men are responsible for most HIV infections and have a significantly shorter lifespan. In fact, Judge Valmond Romilly rejected the prosecution's assertion that the murder of Aaron Webster was not a hate crime, calling the incident "a thug brigade, stalking human prey for entertainment in a manner very reminiscent of Nazi youth in pre-war Germany."
Similarly, World's assertions about Canadian gay men's life expectancy are incorrect. World is referring to a 1997 study of gay men in Vancouver, BC which did not refer to all Canadian gay men; the study was updated it in 2001, pointing out that advances in treatment of HIV/AIDS even at that point had significantly improved the expected longevity of those infected, which would inevitably narrow any gap between gay and straight life spans caused by the disease. Moreover, the authors explicitly rejected the attempts of anti-gay organizations to construe the 1997 observations to justify denigration of gays:
"These homophobic groups appear more interested in restricting the human rights of gay and bisexuals rather than promoting their health and well being. It is essential to note that the life expectancy of any population is a descriptive and not a prescriptive measure. Death is a product of the way a person lives and what physical and environmental hazards he or she faces everyday. It cannot be attributed solely to their sexual orientation or any other ethnic or social factor."World also claimed that Gay Straight Alliance clubs would be "trying to program my Grade 4 child." He confirmed Friday that some members of The Parents' Voice were in the preliminary stages of forming a civic party, which will not be called Parents' Voice. The group intends to run a full slate for the Burnaby School Board. Member Charter Lau, a member of Willingdon Church whose two daughters reportedly don't even attend public school, insists his group is not homophobic, claiming: "Homophobic means irrational fear and hatred. In our group we don't have a single soul who falls into that category." Lau has gone on record with various absurd and false statements such as, "If I tell my kids we are heterosexual, we are normal, then the kids have to struggle between listening to a loving father and his loving teacher, because his loving teacher tells him this is dangerous."
Policy #5.45 was passed unanimously on June 14.
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