Intense debate spiked last week over the province’s new guidelines to support learning environments that “respect diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expression.” What began with what one can only assume were good intentions, to make students who may identify as LGBTQ feel safe and welcomed, became twisted into something more sinister, with many fearing the new guidelines amounted to an attack on female students.
This discussion is in need of a dose of common sense and perspective. First of all, there are students in the division that identify as LGBTQ, and schools are already striving to make safe and inclusive environments for them, recognizing this is a vulnerable population, subject to being marginalized.
Secondly, it’s important to note the guidelines are just that – guidelines, not legislation. Some posts and links shared on social media did little to provide context and information from multiple sources, focusing more on exploiting people’s fears and concerns than being accurate. School boards will make their policies using the guidelines as a resource, and parents will likely have a chance to share their input, which seems reasonable.
Thirdly, the ongoing discussion about balancing religious rights in Catholic schools as well as protection for students identifying as LGBTQ is an important one. The guidelines certainly have grey areas, and perhaps are more about sending a message to school boards about providing inclusive environments, than about legislating them into submission or demanding, suddenly, that all boys should be allowed to use female washrooms or walk into female locker rooms, as some believe will happen. It’s hard to fathom a 15-year-old boy might pose as a transgender youth solely to get into a female washroom. But even if that was a remote possibility, surely we can trust to the common sense of teachers, administration and the board to look at each individual case on a case-by-case basis and make sensible decisions in line with policy.
All people - whether they are parents, students, teachers, members of the Catholic Church or members of the government - want our schools to be safe and caring places for our children. A little bit of common sense, understanding and empathy for others will go a long way to ensuring schools can continue to provide those safe places now and in the future.
