Vancouver's transgender accommodation school policy challenged as gender identity debate endures

A once-celebrated transgender equality policy installed by the Vancouver School Board is now being called unconstitutional as Canada continues to negotiate the future of gender identity in the country.

A group of Vancouver parents, backed by some 175 affidavits, have reportedly filed a petition to have the B.C. Supreme Court overturn the school board’s new transgender equality policy, which they claim improperly imposes a concept of morality on the students.

"The Board failed to consider morality, as it relates to public decency, as a factor that must be weighed against any other moral factor," the petition reads, casting doubt on a policy considered a vanguard for transgender student equality.

The policy states that trans students should be addressed by the names and pronouns they prefer, that they can choose which group they join during sex-segregated activities and can use whichever bathroom they identify with. Gender-neutral washrooms are also made available.

Those who stand against such transgender equality policies, whether they sit in public schools or up for debate in the Senate, tend to point to the same claims: It puts women and girls at risk of predators who could use transgender claims as an excuse to enter off-limits public washrooms and it creates gender confusion in children.

That debate is seen nowhere more clearly than in British Columbia, which has made headlines for its acceptance of the LGBT community, as well as some odd instances of rejection.

Last week, Burnaby’s municipal election campaign was derailed by a claim that one group of candidates planned to inject students with a serum that turns children gay.

The fallacy’s origins seems to stem in part from the Vancouver School Board’s June announcement that it would modernize its transgender equality policies to allow students to decide whether they self-identify as male or female.

That policy is the same one now being challenged by the collection of Vancouver parents who allege it is unconstitutional.

A press release from a group calling itself the “British Columbia Parents and Teachers for Life” states that a lawsuit was filed in the B.C. Supreme Court in late October seeking to overturn the gender policy.

The statement reads:

The lawyer representing the group of parents did not return interview requests, but the Globe and Mail reports that the challenge claims the school board’s policy was rushed through without proper consultation.

According to the newspaper, the petition notes that parents know their children “are uncomfortable with sharing very personal information or private spaces” with members of the opposite sex.

“The Board never consulted with the Parents’ children about how they feel about sharing the same washroom and change room with members of the opposite sex,” it reads.

The Vancouver transgender policy, which was approved by the school board 7-2 in June, was considered at the time to be a step forward in the fight for equality. But it is by no means the only debate ongoing in Canadian schools.

Global News reports that Isabella Burgos, a transgender student in Winnipeg, is currently fighting for washroom privileges, while that school board notes its policy is to request she use gender-neutral washrooms.

And there’s the case of Wren Kauffmann, the Edmonton pre-teen who is physically a girl but self-identifies as a boy. His dedication to public openness prompted a call for better accommodation policies in Canadian schools.

But the battle for transgender equality extends beyond the school system.

Last year, the House of Commons passed BILL C-279, known colloquially as the Gender Identity bill, which sought equality for trans Canadians by adding gender identity to the list protected from hate crimes by the Criminal Code.

That bill has been delayed in the Senate since March 2013 - the Globe recently quoted Conservative Senator Don Plett asking, “If my five-year-old granddaughter doesn’t want to be in a bathroom with a biological male, what’s her option?”

NDP MP Randall Garrison, who championed the private member’s bill through the House, says if the Senate doesn’t pass the bill before next year’s federal election, the bill would be pushed back to the drawing board.

"It dies if an election is called," Garrison told Yahoo Canada News. "It is a gap in our human rights legislation that needs to be filled so that transgendered people have the same rights that the rest of us already take for granted.

"They’ve had my bill for a year-and-a-half, they’ve held two different sets of hearings on it. There is no excuse for not dealing with it and passing it."

Canada has seen its share of growing pains when it comes to addressing transgender equality.

On one hand, there are instances like that of Avery Edison, a British transgender woman who was denied entry to Canada and placed in a male-only detention facility.

The military, on the other, has a policy of transgender accommodation that far surpasses those available in the United States.

Since Garrison has started pushing the Gender Identity Bill, similar laws have been passed by five different provinces. And there have been little fallout or issue as a result.

"There has been no indication that this causes problems, it is intended to address transphobia," he said.

Garrison added that opposition seems to stem from a fear of the unknown and a disinterest in learning about the struggle of Canada’s transgender community.

As for the debate over the Vancouver School Board’s transgender policy, Garrison notes that board elections are around the corner.

"I would wait to see the outcome of the elections before I take seriously anything coming out during the campaign period," he noted.