Tamara Taggart versus Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson: argument over SOGI LGBT issues in B.C. schools

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      A Christian blogger running for the Burnaby school board has gotten into a heated social media exchange with a former local news anchor over LGBT issues.

      Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson is a Christian blogger, author, and former cohost of the TV show The 700 Club Canada. She has also been a vocal opponent of B.C.'s sexual orientation and gender identity resources for schools, also known as SOGI 123 which are LGBT–inclusive.

      She has spoken at rallies against SOGI 123, including in Victoria at the Parliament buildings, and she is also running for the Burnaby school board.

      In a September 13 article in Burnaby Now, she expressed her opposition to SOGI 123 and argued that it should be replaced with love. She said that teachers are not trained or educated to help children address gender identity.

      She said she is against bullying, and would support trans students and "love them to pieces" but added that their issues should be handled by a professional. She added that she experienced bullying herself by being the only white, blond girl at a school in the Arctic.

      Due to her campaign against SOGI, she said that she has received death threats and called names.

      In response to the Burnaby Now article, a reader wrote a letter to the editor that was published on September 15.

      "When most of the dolls on the toy store shelf look like you, when entire rows of magazine covers have faces who look like you, when people who look like you have occupied multiple positions of power and influence for centuries, it takes a convoluted cognitive sequence to see yourself as a victim of the descendants of people who were starved to death and treaty-tricked out of the land you live on," Lizanne Foster of Burnaby wrote.

      Foster added: "There is nothing ideological about teaching students that all humans have a sexual orientation and a gender identity just as there is nothing ideological about teaching students that all humans have a heart and a brain."

      In addition, former CTV news anchor Tamara Taggart tweeted on September 15 that the opinions that Thompson expressed in the article made her feel "angry, sad", and "scared". Taggart alleged—a claim that Thompson vehemently denied—that she saw a lot of hatred and discrimination on Thompson's Twitter feed.

      "It sure doesn’t seem very Christian to be so unaccepting of others," Taggart tweeted.

      In reaction, Thompson said that Taggart posted a "hateful, untrue" tweet about her in a "dishonest and scathing manner and makes statements with no validity whatsoever".

      Thompson asked her followers to let Taggart know on social media that they do not agree with her.

      The exchange continued on, with both mentioning the consideration of legal action. 

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      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at @cinecraig or on Facebook. You can also follow the Straight's LGBT coverage on Twitter at @StraightLGBT or on Facebook.

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