You must look at this article from PZ. The story is very clear: a nursing student in Canada has been kicked out of her nursing program because she is a lesbian who chooses not to discuss her sexual orientation with her patients.
How do we know this? Because the bigot who kicked her out was dumb enough to put it in writing:
If you're interested in communicating with the nursing program about this, here are some contact e-mail addresses:
Cathy Dufour, Academic Department Coordinator, Nursing cdufour@cegep-heritage.qc.ca, and Jo Anne Werner, Academic Dean. jwerner@cegep-heritage.qc.ca.
And the person who kicked her out: TKINGSLEY@cegep-heritage.qc.ca.
PZ has posted a follow-up note saying there are signs that the story may be a fake. Too soon to tell for sure, but don’t jump to conclusions either way.
I can’t get that link to give me the story, so if there is something there that addresses my concern, please excuse. But…even IF the story is true, can you explain the headline to me? It suggests an institutionalized bigotry throughout all of Canadian nursing education. I don’t want anyone to have to experience bigotry and prejudice, but I also don’t think slamming (by implication, at least) an entire country’s nursing education programs sheds any light on the situation. A Canadian student who experiences illegal discrimination has Canadian legal remedies. The issue, if it exists, is that a student’s rights were violated in a particularly rancid way by a dreadfully bigoted program official. Nothing about this seems especially “Canadian” or even especially “nursing.”
If this article makes it clear that this is merely one example among many, at several Canadian nursing schools, and the Canadian courts have upheld the right of those schools to act this way, then your headline is totally accurate and I apologize unreservedly!