Homosexuals rally around prom date. (News in Brief: Canada).

Oshawa, ON -- A request from 17-year-old Catholic high school student Marc Hall for permission to take his 21-year-old "boyfriend" to his school's graduation prom in May has become a rallying cry for Ontario homosexuals to promote their lifestyle and denounce Catholic opposition to it. The media ruckus which followed the Durham Catholic School Board's denial of the request attempted to throw the public's support to the student. On March 22, for example, the Toronto Star published a full page of letters denouncing school and Church. But when it took a telephone poll (953 votes) 63 percent opposed the student.

Typically of homosexual tactics, student Hall immediately began to talk about taking "legal action." He got the backing of the president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Buzz Hargrove; of Anglican Minister Paul Gibson; openly "gay" MPP George Smitherman (Lib) of Toronto-Centre; City councillor Joe Mihevc (St. Paul's); and of Marilyn Byers of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Provincial Liberal party leader, Dalton McGuinty, also threw his weight on the side of the youth as did various homosexual groups and "gay rights" lawyer David Corbett who teaches at York University.

Fortunately, high school Principal Michael Powers and the Board of Trustees stood their ground. When Mike Shields, president of local 222 of the Canadian Auto Workers, ostensibly a Catholic, barged into the Board's meeting denouncing the denial, chairwoman Mary Ann Martin had the police escort him out.

Some newspaper columnists also had their suspicions. Rosie Di Manno of the Star described Hall as a "self-proclaimed homosexual"--an "enthusiastic, practising homosexual"--who has deliberately chosen "to turn himself into a public spectacle." Said Di Manno: "He would not deny his own homosexuality but now demands that the Catholic Church deny its core beliefs" (March 27). Connie Woodcock of the Toronto Sun, not sympathetic to Catholic teaching, nevertheless wondered why the "crisis" got started in January, five months before the prom and why the kid was enrolled in a Catholic school when he knew very well the Catholic prohibition on homosexual activity.

Other columnist such as Rachel Giese of the Toronto Star called the school board "petty, intolerant and out of touch" but nobody would expect anything else from her. Giese is a lesbian and a former editor of a homosexual activist paper.

CAW's Buzz Hargrove wants to drag the school before the Ontario Human Rights Commission. His open letter describes his union's pro-homosexual activism: "We are honoured and proud to work alongside them (Hall and his supporters) as they push for recognition and rights for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people." He forecast that in any legal battle the Catholic School "would lose relevancy."

Commenting on the latter, Michael Connell, of the Canadian Catholic Civil Rights League, told LifeSite, "Tragically, by attempting to bully the Church, the CAW betrays the Church's historical support that was instrumental in helping unions build their credibility. It would appear that the time has arrived when Catholics will need to address their ability in good conscience to remain members of an organization which works to subvert their religious rights."

Connell was not surprised by the CAW attack on the Church, recalling that Kathleen Howes, the Canadian representative of the vehemently anti-Catholic group Catholics for a Free Choice,' is a lawyer for the Canadian Auto Workers (LSN, Mar. 25/02).

The support of the two Liberal party members, McGuinty, the leader, and Smitherman, the homosexual activist, did not come as a surprise either. McGuinty, who is supposed to be a Catholic, is publicly and outspokenly pro-abortion and pro-homosexual and seems to know nothing at all about the role of a Catholic Christian in society, or about the nature of a pluralistic society. Joe Mihevc, the city counsellor, has a history of being pro-homosexual. When Cardinal Ambrozic opposed the NDP--Bob Rae's proposal for same-sex marriage in 1993--Mihevc denounced the Cardinal. He also is a Catholic and even teaches a course in social justice at the Faculty of Theology of St. Michael's College!

On April 4 Toronto Star reporter Jim Coyle devoted a column to explaining Anglican Minister Paul Gibson's view that the Bible does not condemn homosexual behaviour. On April 8, the Durham School Board listened to various submissions and upheld its original decision.