This week, people across the country joined protests as part of 1 Million March 4 Children. The loosely organized protests brought together people and groups who advocate for the elimination of “pronouns, gender ideology and mixed bathrooms” in schools.
In many locations, the protesters were greatly outnumbered by counter-protesters, some of whom organized under the banner of 1 Million Voices for Inclusion.
This isn’t a new story. The language of “parental rights” and protecting children has been used as a framework to oppose 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and inclusion since the 1970s.
In 2019, Cowichan Valley youth rallied for love and inclusion, in response to a local speaking event featuring an opponent of inclusive policies around sexual orientation and gender identity (a.k.a. SOGI 123) in schools.
In 2022, SOGI 123 emerged as a focus in school board elections, in the Cowichan Valley and elsewhere, with many candidates opposing these policies as a key platform issue. Around the same time, controversy swirled after the Cowichan Valley School District announced that designs for the new Cowichan High School would include private, single-stall change rooms that can be used by any student, in addition to gender-specific group change areas.
I’ve been following these issues, researching and talking to people about them, for years. It’s still hard to know what to say to contribute productively to the conversation. I believe people on both sides who say they are motivated by a deep desire to protect and support children.
As a journalist, it’s my job to listen and try to understand where people are coming from, even when they disagree. It’s also my job to seek out, and share, the best available evidence.
A 2016 study out of the University of British Columbia found that school interventions to support kids of diverse genders and sexual orientations have clear benefits for all students, not just those who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+. These interventions could lead to four fewer suicide attempts each year at a typical B.C. school, the report found. When trans and gender non-conforming youth are allowed to use a chosen name, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts decline significantly, a 2018 U.S.-based study found.
So, who’s really protecting the children? As I wade through this complicated issue, this essay by my colleague Lys Morton, a.k.a. Your Friendly Neighborhood Trans Guy, has been a touchstone. My heart breaks for the trans youth caught in the middle, the ones whose lives are truly on the line.
A couple years ago, local father Jared Qwustenuxun Williams (who occasionally contributes to The Discourse) shared a photo, with permission, of his son beaming in a pink princess dress, on his way to school. The Facebook post received thousands of supportive comments and was shared more than 19,000 times.
Qwustenuxun’s son doesn’t wear dresses to school anymore. This week, Qwustenuxun re-shared that post and wrote, “If kids are old enough to bully other kids for what they wear then they are old enough to learn to respect others no matter what they wear. SOGI isn’t teaching sex, it’s teaching that being different is ok. Wearing different clothes is ok. Having two moms, or two dads, or a dad who is now a mom is ok. If the kids in my boy’s class had been exposed to different ways of living and dressing maybe my boy would still be comfortable to wear his dress to school. We need more love and less hate in this world, too many kids are made to suffer because they cannot be who they are for fear or reprisal.”
