def toBoolean(val):
    """
    Get the boolean value of the provided input.

        If the value is a boolean return the value.
        Otherwise check to see if the value is in
        ["true", "yes", "y", "t", "1"]
        and returns True if value is in the list
    """
    if val is True or val is False:
        return val
    trueItems = ['true', 'yes', 'y', 't', '1', 'on']
    return str(val).strip().lower() in trueItems
