Kenney’s friends leading lawsuit that calls GSAs “sex clubs”

For immediate release
June 20, 2018

Kenney’s friends leading lawsuit that calls GSAs “sex clubs”

EDMONTON- After voting in the fall against Bill 24, a bill to protect gay-straight alliances, Jason Kenney and the UCP caucus are on the side of those opponents fighting the legislation they wrongly state creates “sex clubs” in schools in a court case today in Medicine Hat.

Proponents of the lawsuit include the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. In a closed-door meeting last year, Kenney called on conservatives to fundraise for the legal fights this organization brings forward.^[1] That organization’s lead lawyer, John Carpay, is Kenney’s friend and close confidant for social conservative policies. 

The other proponent is Parents for Choice in Education. They pushed the controversial anti-GSA motion at the UCP's recent founding convention and Kenney is consulting with them to re-write his own party policies.[2] The UCP caucus frequently references their extreme work in the Legislature.[3]

Kenney’s social conservative supporters were thrilled when the UCP caucus opposed the GSA legislation in the Alberta Legislature because it states students cannot be outed if they join a GSA. They are now taking the Alberta government to court to fight it. Kenney shares their view, as he believes students should be outed if they join a GSA, as he told the Calgary Herald in March 2017.^[4]

The NDP caucus will be fully behind the Alberta government’s fight to protect GSAs and the students who join them. Kenney and the UCP caucus are clearly not.

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^[1] Youtube. May 4 2017. 27:36. https://youtu.be/xhAZojMIBew?t=1656

^[2] Maclean’s. May 24 2018. 55:36. https://youtu.be/IDOXbPY6dc8?t=3330

[3] Parents for Choice. March 15 2017. https://www.facebook.com/parents4choice/posts/1271263349634770

^[4] Calgary Herald. March 29 2017. http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/kenney-parents-should-be-told-if-child-joins-gay-straight-alliance