No one is imposing "gender ideology" on children in schools, decent folks are trying to save trans & queer kids' lives and anti-LGBTQ protesters today are simply trying to hurt or even kill them

Let's call a spade a spade.

Gender-non-conforming kids and queer kids in our schools are extremely vulnerable to bullying, discrimination, harassment, and violence. 

This was my experience as a gay youth in my high school.  Sadly, it's the experience of most queer youth. 

Kids who are questioning their identities aren't a new phenomenon.  

Kids who are today questioning their gender identities are simply authentically asking these questions because we live in an era when many correctly have come to understand that trans and non-binary people are, have always been, and always will be a small but very beautiful part of the human family.  This has to happen in safe spaces where such kids don't fear violence, harassment and ignorance.  

So-called One Million March for Children Canada protesters marching today to promote hatred, purportedly to defend children, are actually attacking children including their safety.  They are promoting an environment which promotes violence and intolerance of children.  They are making their lives more dangerous. Period. 

Sadly, these anti-gay protesters are, in truth, trying to hurt or even kill these vulnerable youth.  

If their rights are denied, if their lives are disregarded and negatively impacted by these ignorant crackdowns on rights, many of these vulnerable youth will suffer, choose suicide or self-harm.  

I'm thrilled many counter protesters, who seem to outnumber these bigots in many places, are out in full force today to communicate clearly the rights of these kids matter.   

This debate is simple: what's more important?  The best interests of children in our care?  Or parents who may be so ignorant about their children's identities they need schools to tell them these truths.  Those parents need to have better relationships with their kids.  Not strip all queer kids of their rights.   

The safety, security and best interests of children and youth in our care should always be the top priority of adults, parents, educators and all.  Everything else is secondary.  

Parents do not have the right to undermine children's safety.  

#NoSpaceForHate

ADDENDUM

I just want to add that I think our laws need no changes or inappropriate interventions from government.  Educators are already empowered to inform parents when concerns about a child or youth’s safety or security arise.  

I simply don’t agree schools should be legally compelled by government to inform parents if a youth decides to experiment with name changes or gender identities.  It’s one size fits all and inappropriate.  Instead, if there is an issue of safety or security for the youth, including if they are vulnerable to self harm, and educators believe the parents must know about the situation, then of course parents must be informed.  

I also don’t believe outing kids should be banned as there might be cases when that’s appropriate as it’s in the best interests of the children for their parents to know.  

I’m against banning outing and I’m against mandatory outing.  Every situation is different.

I compare it to a case of a Muslim or Christian student who decides at their school to explore a different religion.  Imagine if the government compelled schools then to inform parents of those choices.  It would be unconscionable. So why must gender identity be treated differently?

Today's tonic: "My question for Doug Ford: When it comes to gender who is indoctrinating whom?"

Today's tonic: "My question for Doug Ford: When it comes to gender who is indoctrinating whom?" by Toronto Star writer Emma Teitel.

"This entire gender identity freakout rests on the wildly idealistic belief that “woke-ism” has eviscerated age old gender norms. In truth, it’s hardly dented them. In order to genuinely believe gender norms are eroding one must live his entire life at the centre of a pride parade. Because to walk around mainstream society — and to raise a child in mainstream society — is to be hit over the head at every turn with the reminder that girls are girls and boys are boys, and don’t you forget it.

"After all, it isn’t baby boomers throwing gender reveal parties; the explosion of that trend occurred in recent years thanks to my generation, “woke” millennials who are supposed to have forgotten the meaning of tradition.

"However, it turns out we love tradition, especially if it involves cutting into a cake to reveal a baby pink interior (it’s a girl!), or in more devoted cases (as happened in Arizona in 2017 and California in 2020) detonating a pyrotechnic device that releases a plume of colourful gender-indicating smoke into the air, resulting in a wildfire that burns thousands of acres of land and in the latter case, kills a firefighter.

"Queer people are not erasing the gender binary. Straight, cisgender people are literally setting the world on fire to preserve it.

"...Ford has good reason to weigh in on trans kids: they’re a convenient scapegoat and distraction from the Greenbelt scandal. The federal Conservatives, on the other hand, have a far better chance at maintaining their lead among younger voters if they never talk about trans people again.

"But it seems Conservatives at all levels just can’t help themselves. Whether the root cause of their transgender fixation is opportunism or bigotry (or both), they’re not dropping the subject anytime soon. The so-called culture war has arrived in Canada. We were never better than the Americans. We’re just late to trends."

Today's tonic: "Why Does Flying Suck so Much?" by Robert Reich, in one of his best videos #airlines #rippingusoff #flying

Today's tonic: "Stephen Lecce’s stance on gender identity in schools is a recipe for more homeless youth"

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce

Today's tonic: "Stephen Lecce’s stance on gender identity in schools is a recipe for more homeless youth", by writer Emma Teitel.  

Let's imagine young Stephen Lecce tells his teacher at his Ontario high school in the 1990s or 2000s that he's gay and suffering from discrimination and bullying.   His teacher suggests he tell his parents about it because they may be able to help.  But young Mr. Lecce tells the teacher his parents have been saying homophobic things his whole life, and he worries their conservative Catholic upbringing may lead them to reject him as a son. 

Young Mr. Lecce then joins his school's straight-gay alliance to find support.  But then, the government adopts a policy if teenagers join such clubs in high school, even private high schools, the high school is then legally obliged to inform Lecce's parents about it (unlike any other club the student may join in high school.)  The revelation leads to young Mr. Lecce getting into a major fight with his parents who contend he's humiliating their family.  The fight becomes violent and young Mr. Lecce is ordered to "straighten up or get out!"  The next day young Mr. Lecce leaves home and becomes homeless.  What kind of future will he have now? 

This scenario is fiction, but sadly rings true to the experiences of many queer youth.  Something like it could have even happened to Stephen Lecce, for all I know.  (Although Ontario's Catholic high schools including private schools like his St. Michael's College certainly didn't have any gay-straight alliances in the 1990s or 2000s, so not as written above.)

Even so, it's disappointing that Lecce isn't showing more expressed sympathy for the trans youth whose rights and basic safety he is now putting up for debate in Ontario.  All of his talk of late has been about parents' rights. 

He's wrong.  This debate should be about the best interests and safety of the children in our care.  Full stop. 

The hysteria that is being spread by the conservative right on this issue - like all hysteria spread by the right - is corrosive and will only lead to more pain and violence.  And in this case homelessness.  And is just being pushed to distract from other issues.  

It's shameful and gross.  It could lead to the destruction of young lives before they even have a chance to start or to find out who they truly are. 

Whatever happened to personal freedom and autonomy?  Erring on the side of personal freedom rather than government control?  Apparently for conservatives, that policy only applies when you are exactly like them, and the more different you are, the less freedom and autonomy you should have. 

Do you agree with them?  I sure don't.  I wish Stephen Lecce would provide something resembling leadership here rather than the usual, thoughtless, and in his case hypocritical, conservative ideology. 

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/stephen-lecce-s-stance-on-gender-identity-in-schools-is-a-recipe-for-more-homeless/article_5d8ddef1-a5f2-5df6-a139-4045f712329f.html