As a family with strong religious beliefs, Cooper wanted to take her daughters out of an environment she feels teaches her something contrary to what she believes.

“My child should not be taught in junior kindergarten that a woman can love a woman or a woman can be a man,” the Hamilton resident told the Mountain News.

“It’s really up to me in my home to provide that kind of information.”

Ontario school boards are required to implement equity and inclusive education policies, covering everything from ethnicity and race, to classism and gender, by September.

Cooper, who enrolled her children in a Catholic school this year, said she and many other parents are concerned about the gender equity and sexual orientation portion of the Hamilton public school board’s policy, which they feel will permeate the entire curriculum.

Concern about the policy picked up steam last month when Hamilton Community News managing editor Mark Cripps wrote a column about a Hamilton public school board information sheet for teachers which some believe shows the board believes it can trump parental rights when it comes to teaching about sexual orientation.

The gender equity policy is still in draft form.

Trustee Shirley Glauser, who chairs the sub-committee working on the policy, did not return repeated calls from the Mountain News.

Cooper said the idea of an equity policy is a good one and she believes everyone — no matter their race, religion or gender — should be treated equally, but the rights of some groups, such as Christians, are being outweighed by the rights of others, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and two-spirited community.

“I don’t want to put up barriers,” she said. “What I don’t agree with is social experimentation, where we’re all taught that we can choose our gender, not based upon biological reality, but upon fashion choices.”

The final straw for Cooper was when she realized the board was not going to be able accommodate her parental wishes to remove her children if teaching regarding sexual orientation was discussed outside of specific classes.

“That’s when we approached the Catholic school board and asked to be included in their system,” she said.

Public board spokesperson Jackie Penman said parents are encouraged to talk to their child's teacher if they have concerns about topics addressed in the classroom.

Parents can withdraw their children from any portion of the growth and development component of the healthy living portion of the elementary curriculum they feel is not suitable for their child, she said.

Deirdre Pike, co-chair of Hamilton Positive Space Collaborative, said she believes parents are misinformed about the curriculum changes.

“I think that at the basis of some of these decisions is a belief that if you teach about minority sexual orientations that somehow you will be converted to follow one,” she said.

“That is so erroneous that it's laughable.” Jae Adams of The Well, an LGBTQ community wellness centre in downtown Hamilton, said it seems like a handful of parents speaking out compared to “hundreds, if not potentially thousands of kids going through real trauma and real problems in the school system and no one is tackling it except the school board.”

“I think when people learn the true content and have a true understanding of how their child’s education is not going to change that much, then people will calm down about it,” he said.

“Let’s make sure everyone is safe, let's make sure we have proper policy to deal with problems and then let’s worry about the comfort issues a little later on.”

Pat Daly, chair of Hamilton’s Catholic school board, said he has heard from parents making the switch based on the issue, but “I have not asked for, nor seen, any information to suggest that.”

He declined to comment on the public board’s draft equity policy or parent reaction.

It’s hard to put an exact figure on the number of families leaving the public school board over concerns about policies which conflict with their religious values, but if you ask the head of Public Education Advocates for Christian Equality, the number is growing.

Phil Lees, head of the group and leader of the Family Coalition Party, said PEACE was formed a year ago in response to the school board’s sexual orientation teachings under the equity policy.

“Our goal is that children in the public education system — all of them — would be treated equitably,” he said.

Lees said he hears nearly every week from a family who are leaving the public board and has had his own discussions with his son, who is in Grade 10, about leaving his school.

He added that the percentage of the population enrolled in non-public schools has been growing in recent years, which he contributed to issues such as teaching regarding sexual orientation.

Kris Lehr pulled her child out of a Hamilton public school because she was worried information about the gay lifestyle would be taught, contrary to the Christian values her child was learning at home.

“What confusion is that going to cause my son?” the central Mountain resident said.

Lehr said she is not homophobic but feels her beliefs were not being respected and while all students are supposed to be treated equally, some Christian students do not feel accepted or comfortable.

“I think it’s sad that we need to have a policy to protect these poor children, that there are people who bully, but the school board has gone far too far in trying to do it and has now discriminated against us."