A 17-year-old Point Grey secondary student and several other young activists have launched a campaign to pressure NPA trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo to resign.
Eli Benjamin instigated the initiative shortly after the Vancouver School Board censured Denike and Woo at a school board meeting Monday night for controversial comments they made in two videos concerning the Out in Schools program and the district's anti-homophobia policy.
Benjamin, a Grade 12 student, wasn't at the meeting, which attracted about 100 spectators, but heard about it afterwards and almost immediately started a Facebook book page asking supporters to express their outrage by emailing Denike and Woo, and cc'ing their messages to Vision Vancouver board chair Patti Bacchus. A petition has also been started.
"That night, I started a campaign against [them]. Since a lot of us are underage and we don't have the right to vote yet, we're trying to flood their emails in hopes that the pressure will make them resign," Benjamin said. "They're school trustees for us. They're supposed to be for us and if they don't have the willingness to want to support every single student, we don't want them to be involved with the school board."
Sarah Bercic, a Grade 10 student from Eric Hamber, Trevor Ritchie, a UBC student, and Ryan Clayton, a gay rights activist, are also behind the campaign.
They're trying to get Gay-Straight Alliance groups, from schools Denike and Woo are liaison trustees for, to meet with the pair. Benjamin said he's tried to contact the trustees, but there's been no response.
"I feel they've definitely failed at their duties, especially because Vancouver is such an accepting city [for] homosexual issues-it always has been. For closed-minded people to be in such an accepting city, and especially in the position of power they're in, it's just really not necessary for them to be there any more," he said.
Benjamin said the subject strikes a personal chord because he's gay.
"I know the struggles with it and I know how hard it is to deal with these closed-minded people when you're gay, so I just want to prevent younger kids and other people from feeling that way. There's no need for anyone to feel ashamed for who they are," he said.
The activists' Facebook group grew from 600 members to more than 4,000 between Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon. Organizers planned to meet Wednesday evening to discuss further action.
Bacchus told the Courier on Wednesday that Benjamin had contacted her and she was getting a steady stream of emails-34 since Tuesday night-demanding Denike's and Woo's resignations.
"The board's motion is a clear statement of the board's commitment to the existing policy and condemnation of the misrepresentation of the policy," she said, adding, "I'm not aware of any plans by trustees for further action on this issue."
One of the controversial videos in question was posted by on an American anti-gay marriage site, but Denike and Woo hired a lawyer and it's since been removed.
Both Denike and Woo have said they support anti-bullying and anti-homophobic guidelines.
"I have been consistent with respect to non-discrimination, anti-racism, anti-bullying and anti-homophobia," Denike wrote in a recent email to the Courier.
Twitter: @Naoibh
