Canadian schools urged to develop policies to accommodate transgendered students

When I went to school in the 1960s, the classrooms were, shall we say, monochromatic.

We had plenty of European immigrant kids (myself included), who sometimes got teased for their tenuous grasp of English. But I didn't share a class with a visible minority until I hit high school. I don't recall seeing anyone with a visible handicap either.

It also wouldn't have occurred to anyone back then to consider someone's sexual orientation. It was a Catholic school and that stuff just never came up.

I'm getting a lesson, though, in just how complex the human dynamics of today's schools have become with this week's coverage of how to accommodate transgender students.

The Canadian Press chronicled the story of Wren Kauffman, an 11-year-old Edmonton kid who physically is a girl but has come out to family and classmates as a boy.

[ Related: 'I'm glad that I told everybody:' transgender boy shares story at school ]

It's quite courageous to be that open in school, where kids can seize on the slightest difference to make someone's life hell. But as children sometimes do, Wren (formerly Wrenna) cut to the heart of the matter.

“If you’re not yourself, then it kind of gets sad and depressing,” he told CP. “I’m glad that I told everybody.”

I don't doubt there were gay, lesbian and transgendered kids in my school. I wonder at what it cost them to repress their true selves.

More students are revealing their sexual identities today, and at a younger age, Kris Wells of the University of Alberta's Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services told CP. Studies suggest six out of 1,000 students and one out of 170 teachers are transgender.

The desire not to repress their identity adds another level of complication for schools already wrestling with how to promote acceptance of gay and lesbian students.

Wells told CP he gets daily calls and emails from parents and schools across Canada looking for advice. In one case, he helped a Grade 2 student change sexual identity at a Catholic school in rural Alberta.

[ Related: California governor signs bill letting transgender students choose restrooms ]

The Edmonton Public School Board was the first in Alberta to institute a policy in 2011 to protect gay, lesbian and transgender students and staff from discrimination based on sexual orientation, CP reported.

Wells told CTV News children's gender identity can be set as early as kindergarten, which makes it important to have policies in place.

He recommended three main actions schools can implement to accommodate transgender students, including determining the level of confidentiality for each student, maximizing inclusiveness by using proper names and pronouns reflecting gender identity, as well as allowing students to use the washrooms and change rooms they prefer, and breaking down stereotypes about transgenderism.

Not everyone comes out publicly like Wren. Some students switch schools or their families even move away to give the child a fresh start in their new identity, Wells said. Others make the transition over the summer and return to class in the new term as the opposite gender.

[ Related: Manitobans divided over anti-bullying bill that sanctions gay-straight alliances in schools ]

Wren said he always felt he was a boy and finally won the support of his family at age nine. A year later, he revealed the fact he was living as a boy to fellow Grade 5 students at Belgravia School during a class sharing circle, where kids talk about life events. Though some had questions, all were supportive, he told CP.

When he transferred to Victoria School of the Arts the following year, he kept his actual sex private at first but eventually shared with his friends and classmates that he is physically a girl.

There's been no problem with bullying or harassment, Wren said, only some teasing at first. A couple of students ask for proof he was really a girl but Wren declined to drop his pants.

The school has a couple of older transgender students, so he was not blazing a trail. Wren uses the boys' washroom and changes in the boys' gym locker room, using a stall, CP said.

Wren, who's starting Grade 7 this year, is philosophical about what he may face as he grows older.

“People tease me right now and I can handle it," he told CP. "The way that I like to look at it is that they’re just practice for the real jerks in life.

“And, besides, if they say something to me, then they don’t have to be part of my life ... I don’t think I need people who don’t like me.”