A large crowd rallied in Lethbridge against proposed legislation that would require teachers to get parental consent to use a child’s chosen name or pronoun at school.
President of the Lethbridge Pride Fest Society, Lane Sterr, says he believes the news rules would do irreversible harm to two spirt and trans youth.
“Not every youth, not every person has a safe space at home,” he says. “Danielle Smith says that it is very rare that parents disown or kick their children out of their homes, but it is not rare – It’s truly not. I think that we could see many youths take their lives or consider it and I think that’s the biggest concern and worry.”
The new rules would require parental consent for school staff to use a chosen name or pronoun for children under 15 years old and parents would have to be notified about children choosing a different name or pronoun if they are 16 or 17.
Proposed changes also include parents having to opt-in to sexual education for their children and having all sex-ed material approved by the ministry of education.
“[Smith] said how much she loved and supported and cared for the trans community and the queer community but I believe that someone who truly does care for our community would have consulted teachers, would have had conversation with medical professionals in this field – she would have had open discussions with queer adults and youth on this topic and she did nothing,” Sterr says.
The policy also includes banning trans women from women’s sports and banning puberty blockers for the purpose of gender reassignment or affirmation for children under 15 and requiring teens aged 16 and 17 to have parental consent to use them.
“It is very disheartening to hear premier Danielle Smith announce, very quickly, these policies that ultimately will be doing harm to the 2SLGBTQI+, predominantly jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of two spirit and trans youth. It’s surprising, not shocking though,” Sterr says.