Wednesday October 4, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 10:27 am]
Editorial news commentary by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today Premier David Eby tore a strip off BC Conservative leader John Rustad for using his floor time in this first day back in BC Legislative assembly (fall session 2023) to bring up the topic of SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) in BC schools.
Through some negative chatter and a lengthy crescendo of desk thumping, Rustad held his own. His floor time, his topic choice.
The BC Conservative stance is that parents should not be seeing the “sexualization of their children” through school curriculum. He said the delivery of that content is “divisive, an assault on students’ rights, and as such on students’ education”.
Eby was instantly furious, saying “choose another question”. He said that all students should feel safe in schools, and that Rustad using his position in the house for bringing up that topic was “not auspicious “.
Eby said that Rustad discussing SOGI was to be “picking on kids and families” and went deeper, saying some kids attempt suicide over the gender issue.
Comfortable in their bodies:
Suicide is known in the sociological context as a person believing they have no alternatives to any given situation that pushes them to a point of despair.
It could be argued that society has become oversexualized such that thoughts or considerations about one’s sexuality or gender become requires as a normal matter of being able to participate in active society.
Perhaps society needs to be more accepting of people being simply comfortable in their bodies as they are, without people (especially children) having to reevaluate their entire life framework in order to find what they think is a scenario of peace and acceptance. Where and how do they fit in better after a gender shift or body alteration?
Jumping to extremes:
The extreme of altering one’s body with drugs or surgery is a form of self abuse; a growing number of people who have desexualized after undergoing those transformations are warning about the negative impacts on their health. Should people go through all that to avoid suicide, or perhaps choose to reevaluate the perceived pressures that are generating the distress in the first place?
This is *not* to suggest there is any room for so called conversion therapy (which is cruel and proven to be ineffectual anyhow). It’s about having real discussions about real feelings and realities.
Scientific studies have shown that the human brain doesn’t fully process consequence until age 25. Parents who know that instinctively or otherwise (remembering they had similar stresses in youth but it’s no longer an issue for them) are starting to speak up. And in the political scene, Rustad is their lightning rod.
Education Minister:
Yesterday in a hallway media scrum Island Social Trends asked education minister Rachna Singh about her view on parents having a role in how SOGI is delivered in schools, and specifically whether school districts should be excluding parents from how their children are interacting at school related to gender (e.g. change of name and/or pronoun, information about gender range and transition).
Minister Singh said she would encourage parents to have conversations with their children at home around SOGI issues. She would not directly answer whether schools should be required to include parental involvement on any SOGI-related actions or changes undertaken by their children (with teachers and in the classroom).
Currently schools and teachers in BC are not required to involve parents if and when their child wants to use a different name nor pronoun at school.
Safe and welcoming:
Today in the Legislative Assembly question period Singh said she was “so saddened that the member opposite is talking about this”. She reiterated government lines that BC schools are “committed to being safe and welcoming places”.
There seems no discussion yet as to whether schools are ‘safe and unwelcoming ‘ to children who either themselves or to/with their parents are finding the SOGi environment imposing or unwelcome.
Pressure on teachers:
There is still very little discussion about the dynamics of SOGI education on teachers in the classroom.
Not all teachers are comfortable with delivering that content, and are certainly experiencing a squeeze between parents and their children when it comes to the requirement to be silent on the child’s experiences at school.
Parental rights:
Parents who want to be involved in their child’s educational experience see that as a normal expectation of the role and responsibility of parenting.
Shutting out parents is to inflict conflict into families which can have ramifications long after school years are past.
For the school system to suggest that exclusion of parents is a way to keep children safe should be considered an affront to any caring parent.
===== RELATED:
Recall petition aimed at Education Minister over SOGI (November 24, 2023)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends reports on news of the day through a socioeconomic lens, with an eye to how politics shapes the lives of individuals and households and how it impacts businesses and communities — with the aim to create an archive of both highlights and key points in detail.
Created in mid-2020 by Editor and Publisher Mary P Brooke, Island Social Trends is available at IslandSocialTrends.ca for anyone to read — as part of Ms Brooke’s philosophy that citizen discourse should be available to all.
Mary P Brooke launched Island Social Trends after creating, editing and publishing three print publications on the west shore of south Vancouver Island which are now archived in the Sooke Region Museum permanent collections: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Mary P Brooke was nominated for a Jack Webster Award in 2023 to recognize her contribution to community through journalism. She reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Mary Brooke is the proud mom of four (now grown) children who attended public schools in BC (SD61, SD62, SD72). She ran as a school trustee candidate in SD62 in 2022.
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