Under the radar; Manitoba principal apologizes for the distribution of sex education kits

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

It’s disheartening to witness the trajectory of our society. There’s a palpable sense that something isn’t right, that a subtle but insidious indoctrination is taking place, particularly targeting our most vulnerable: the youth. Some believe that our youth are being fed narratives that shape their perceptions, often without them even realizing it.

In the midst of this, stories emerge quietly, slipping under the radar of public awareness. One such instance occurred recently, unbeknownst to many of us. This quiet alteration had far-reaching implications, with the power to shape the minds of future generations in ways we might not fully comprehend until it’s too late.

Last week, I received an email from Gregory Tomchyshyn (CitizenGO) with an update on a story that our esteemed Journalist Michael Thomas, had brought to our attention a few months ago.

In February of this year (2024), Janine Stephanie Penner shared that her son in grade 10 was given a “Gay porn graphic flip book at school as a method of learning how to use condoms and in addition, received 15 condoms and a wooden pecker for practice.”

The book distributed to students is called, “Who’s Got The Condom?” Both the front and back of the book include a sexually graphic image of what looks like an older male laying nude with a condom on, and a younger male, also nude, about to engage in a sex act.

Although the purpose of this book was to serve as a resource for condom education, the majority of the pages are blank of text, directions, or any other information. Instead, the flip book is filled with illustrations that merely depict a sequence of increasing motions in which the younger man masturbates the elder man. It then introduces a condom and flips to show the two male individuals having sex.

The Virden Collegiate Institute’s principal, Mark Keown, has issued an “apologetic” statement regarding the distribution of sex education kits that included: fake genitals, condoms, and pornographic flipbooks by the Sexuality Education Resource Centre (SERC) and Public Health. Principal Keown mentioned SERC was invited into the school to give the students in grades 9 and 10 the presentation.

They also were invited to place up a lunch hour display to distribute these kits to the grade 11 and 12 students, who “were not part of the presentations.”

In his statements to parents, which were also published online, Principal Keown speaks to students being able “To preview or take if they chose to” the pornographic “flip book ‘Who’s Got The Condom?'”

He said that originally, public health nurses who serve the school and community are the ones who have done those presentations. During the pandemic they became too busy with other duties. “That’s when the SERC staff was added in. They became those experts who came in and did the presentations for our students.”

He went on to say of the presenters, “They’re not necessarily certified teachers …as a teacher, we always try to deliver the factual neutral point and allow kids to have perspectives on that.”

This year was different. “I think in this scenario, there were some examples throughout the presentations where there was some personal bias, or personal perspectives that were not necessarily in the [curriculum].”

Principal Keown acknowledged his responsibility as school administrator and expressed concern over the presenter’s decision to make that material available in Virden Collegiate. “I wasn’t aware of that information being made available to our students over the lunch hour, and that’s where the apology letter went out. We should have screened that and been a part of that process, knowing that was information that was going to be made available for our kids.”

Given this backlash, the Fort la Boss Superintendent of Schools instructed all schools under its jurisdiction, including Virden Collegiate Institute, to “Postpone any further presentations by SERC until further notice and a review.”

While this apology and pause is good news, the victory is just one battle won against the much larger war against pornographic materials infiltrating our tax-funded schools. We must remain vigilant to ensure that these types of materials and presentations are no longer allowed to slip into schools under the radar.