Buoyed by rainbow-lettered signs, booming beats from a live band and pleas from teenage activists, hundreds of people rallied at Queen’s Park Saturday to make sure Premier Doug Ford heeds their message: Bring back our modern sex ed curriculum.Organized by high school students, the rally — dubbed March for Our Education — comes just weeks after Ford followed through on a campaign promise to repeal the 2015 sexual education syllabus, long opposed by social conservatives. The Progressive Conservatives have since faced heated criticism for replacing the curriculum with one from 1998, which predates same-sex marriage, the age of cyberbullying and emoji-fuelled sexting.On Friday, Ford pledged his government would consult with parents in every riding before rewriting the curriculum, but as of yet, the government has released no details on the price tag or timetable for the consultations.Rayne Fisher-Quann, the 16-year-old co-organizer of March for Our Education, which came together in just 10 days, called sex ed “one of the most important issues of my lifetime.”“I have been brought up with the 1998 curriculum and I know just how much it is lacking,” she told the Star. “We can’t go back to it; too much is at stake.”Teachers, LGBTQ activists and parents pushing children in strollers were among the hundreds who gathered under sunny skies on the front lawn of Queen’s Park. Many carried signs that poked fun at the 1998 sex ed syllabus by comparing it to boy bands, mix tapes, Pepsi Clear and other cultural touchstones from the 1990s.Carol Pasternak, a longtime gay activist, was among those in the rally’s front row, ready to show solidarity with the teenage organizers. She called the sex ed issue a “matter of life and death,” which is why she made a sign, put on a bright orange T-shirt and, at the age of 64, came to her first protest.“If gay kids don’t know it’s OK to be gay, ...
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