Sex Education, Catholic School, and the Fear of Teaching 2SLGBTQIA+ Families

The first time I learned about sex, I was seven years old, sitting in my Catholic grade school classroom in 1988. We had these workbooks called Fully Alive, and one day, the teacher opened up to the chapter on how babies are made.

There were full-on medical illustrations—no faces, no identities, just anatomy. A diagram of a vulva. A penis. An explanation of sperm meeting an egg. That was it. No talk of pleasure, no discussion of relationships, just biology. The mechanics of reproduction, plain and simple.

So when people say, “Teachers shouldn’t be teaching homosexuality to children,” I can’t help but ask—what do you think that means?

Teaching LGBTQ+ Families Isn’t Teaching Sexuality

When I learned about reproduction in school, no one was teaching sexuality. Those medical illustrations didn’t have sexual orientations or gender identities. For all we knew, the sperm donor could have been bisexual, and the egg carrier could have been a trans man. But none of that mattered because we were simply learning how bodies function.

So let’s be clear: when kids are taught about 2SLGBTQIA+ families in school, it’s not a lesson on sexuality. It’s a lesson on families.

• Tiffany has two moms.

• Tommy has two dads.

• Jennifer is adopted.

• Kyle is raised by his grandmother.

That’s not sex ed. That’s just teaching kids that different family structures exist—the same way they learn that some families have one parent, step-siblings, or live with grandparents.

Every family is valid. Every child deserves to see their family represented in school.

Concerned About the Curriculum? Read It Yourself

If you’re worried about what’s being taught in schools, that’s totally fair. Parents should be informed. But instead of relying on misinformation from Facebook groups or politicians with an agenda, go directly to the source:

1. Visit your provincial government’s website—most curriculum documents are publicly available.

2. Ask your child’s teacher or principal exactly what’s being taught in class.

You’ll find that no one is secretly teaching kids about gay sex. They’re teaching kids that some families have two moms. That’s it.

You Can Control What Your Child Learns—But Not What Others Learn

At the end of the day, if you don’t want your child to learn that Tiffany has two moms, that’s your right as a parent. But you don’t get to dictate what every other child in that class learns.

If your response to inclusion is to pull your kid out of school, I feel for your child. Because they’re missing out on a world that is bigger and more diverse than your personal beliefs allow.

Education is about expanding minds, not closing them. And every child deserves to see their family, their friends, and their reality reflected in the classroom.