Opinion

As a gay man who grew up in Killarney, I am dismayed by the stories I’m seeing about a group attempting to have LGBTQ+ books banned from the Brandon School Division.

Life closeted as an LGBTQ+ kid in southern Manitoba is hard enough knowing your existence is “head down, bide your time.” It’s not kids in Canada’s large cities who need these resources. It’s the closeted gay kid in a socially conservative Mennonite family who feels trapped and alone who needs to know there is a larger world out there that will love and accept them just the way God designed them. I believe the good people of Westman, while undoubtedly conservative leaning, are not on board with this creeping in of U.S.-style culture war divisiveness.

The proponents of these book bans would benefit from watching the movie, “Prayers for Bobby,” starring Sigourney Weaver, based on a true story of a devout Christian mother who couldn’t accept her gay son. He killed himself jumping off an interstate bridge outside of Portland.

A quote from that mother, Mary Griffith, comes to mind: “Before you echo ‘Amen’ in your home or place of worship, think and remember … a child is listening.”

RILEY WHITELOCK

Vancouver, B.C.

Killarney School Class of 2010