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A comedienne says a Catholic school asked her to perform at an anti-bullying and anti-homophobia event then revoked her invitation when staff discovered she was gay.
The Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School in Toronto reportedly booked Dawn Whitwell as a speaker, but then told her not to come when a member of school staff researched her on the internet and found out she was married to a woman.
Ms Whitwell said the term 'affiliation to gay marriage' was used when she was contacted by the school and told she was no longer required at the event. She told reporters she found the whole episode 'laughable' at first, but was then angered:
'I was telling people about it, because it was funny, then I was getting angry that they can still do this kind of thing. Not so much for me performing there, but you've got to be kidding me - I thought the tide was turning in '87.'
Emmy Szekeres Milne from the Toronto Catholic District School Board disputed Dawn Whitwell's claims, saying the school was planning an event to focus on anti-bullying strategies, not anti-homophobia, and that Dawn Whitwell had only been considered as a speaker, but not officially booked.
She said: Staff who were organising the event reviewed the individual's online information, and felt that because of the serious nature of the topics being discussed, this person would not be a good fit for their program.'
Hmmm, banning a lesbian from a school's anti-bullying event... a few mixed messages going on there. What do you think?