Above watch: Four days from the Alberta election, Calgary-Elbow PC candidate Gordon Dirks is coming under fire for a claim posted to Twitter about his involvement with Gay Straight Alliances. Erika Tucker explains the social media backlash.
CALGARY – Four days from the Alberta election, Calgary-Elbow PC candidate Gordon Dirks is coming under fire for a claim posted to Twitter about his involvement with Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs).
In a pamphlet championing his accomplishments as education minister, Dirks says he “made sure students who want to form gay-straight alliance clubs in their schools can do so.”
Criticism was swift, with many Albertans suggesting Dirks’ pamphlet implied he was taking credit for GSA access, when in fact the PC government’s initial legislation would have allowed school boards to prevent students from creating GSAs.
In its original form last fall, Bill 10 gave the final say for GSAs to the school boards and told students to go to court if they wanted to challenge it. Premier Jim Prentice said this was the best way to balance the rights of kids, schools and parents. The bill replaced Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman’s private member’s Bill 202, which would have mandated GSAs in any school where a student requested one.
READ MORE: Alberta’s controversial Bill 10 trends on Twitter
When public outrage grew on social media and elsewhere, the Tories passed an amendment in December allowing the government to set up GSAs at unwilling schools, but with the option of putting the clubs off school grounds. Critics pounced on the amendment as institutionalized segregation of gays akin to “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws used to debase African-Americans more than a generation ago. Prentice then put the bill on hold, and last month introduced a new version making it mandatory to allow GSAs in schools where students want one.
READ MORE: Education minister Gordon Dirks criticized after visiting GSA at Edmonton high school
Many Twitter users used the “DirksHistory” hashtag to mock him by putting forth ridiculous claims:
Not everyone thought Dirks was trying to take credit for the GSAs, but acknowledged the pamphlet wording was misleading:
The media relations director for Gordon Dirk’s campaign said the #DirksHistory tweets were “all Alberta Party people.”
“It’s the activities of our political opponent, so Minister Dirks is not interested in commenting on an Internet campaign promoted by his political opponents,” David Heyman told Global News.
With files from The Canadian Press
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