Thread by @MickeyDjuric

🧵 Former LGBTQ students say they have been discriminated against at a government-funded Saskatchewan Bible College. Students say they have been fired from jobs or had their degrees taken away from them after being outed

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regina.ctvnews.ca/lgbtq-students… #skpoli

The Canadian Press interviewed eight former LGBTQ students from across Canada who attended the college over the last two decades. They said they experienced homophobia, abuse and discrimination that left them fearful and vulnerable.

They said they are speaking out because they're concerned for current students at the college and want changes or the school defunded. Briercrest receives funding from the Saskatchewan Party government and was given $250,000 for this school year. #skpoli

One student said she was struggling with her sexuality and feeling suicidal and that a counsellor told her to pray it away. Another said a professor wrote a derogatory word on a white board in class to describe homosexuals.

In 2019 address, Briercrest’s president Michael Pawelke made a school address in which he compared sex outside of heterosexual marriage to intercourse with animals, robots and corpses. Some students say they experienced or witnessed conversion therapy. Allegations Pawelke denies.

Ben Ross said he was outed as gay at the town's post office, then assigned a paper at school: “I had to write an essay on why I don't believe being gay is right, how I denounce all of it. And basically if I didn't do that, I wouldn't (be able to) graduate.”

Documents and emails obtained by The Canadian Press show the Saskatchewan Party government was aware of alleged discrimination at Briercrest after former student Jodi Hartung of Saskatoon raised concerns in 2015 with Pawelke and other officials. #skpoli

In a letter to the government, Hartung said she was concerned and that some LGBTQ students were self-harming and had tried to commit suicide. She said she sent the letter after she was contacted "at an alarming rate" by students who felt unsafe on campus. #skpoli

Her complaints landed on the desk of Premier Scott Moe, who was advanced education minister at the time. He, along with several other advanced education ministers, ignored recommendations made by an independent board to prevent future discrimination of LGBTQ students. #skpoli

"It wasn't felt at the time we needed to do anything, given (post-secondary schools') requirement to comply with provincial legislation, particularly the human rights code," Minister of Advanced Education Gord Wyant said in an interview. #skpoli