The province’s guidelines around transgender policy caused waves last week, as the bishop for the diocese of St. Paul wrote a pastoral letter rejecting the guidelines and parents raised concerns over what the guidelines would mean for students.
“The document as a whole is flawed in its vision of gender and sexual identity,” Bishop Paul Terrio said in a phone interview last week, in regards to the pastoral letter he sent to Catholic school boards last Monday, which states he must reject the guidelines out of reasons of “faith and common sense.”
Terrio added his voice to the chorus of Alberta bishops and archbishops criticizing the guidelines sent from Alberta Education, which was intended “to enable school authorities to use best practices in creating and supporting learning environments that respect diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expression.”
The guidelines follow on the heels of last year’s incident at an Edmonton Catholic school, in which a seven-year-old transgender child, born a male, wanted to use the girls’ washroom. The child was not allowed to do so, and was instead escorted to a gender-neutral washroom each time, with the parents filing a human rights complaint over the issue.
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen delivered the suggested set of guidelines to the province’s 61 school boards on Jan. 13, while the boards have until March 31st to come up with policy in line with the recommendations.
Terrio said everyone agrees with the need to have safe and inclusive schools, adding, “In our humble opinion, we think Catholic schools are already doing that.”
The basic flaw of this document rests on its premise that “self-identification is the sole measure of an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
Terrio said he agreed that self-identification had to be taken into account, and no one should be ostracized because he or she has difficulty accepting his/her biological gender.
However, his letter stated femininity and masculinity are not just exchangeable roles, but “gifts and callings from the creator.”
“Where I challenge this, they (the province) are anchoring their proposals to a gender-theory vision of sexuality which is in direct confrontation with any biblical religion, including Catholicism,” he said, adding this vision also conflicts with other religious groups’ views, including those of evangelicals and Muslims.
Some of the guidelines lay out policies that Catholic schools are already using, such as keeping confidential records, but others “are directly connected to the problematic principle,” he said. These include recommendations to reduce gender-segregated activities in schools as much as possible, to use alternate pronouns for individuals who do not feel included in the use of pronouns like “he” or “she,” such as xe, xir and hir, or Mx. Instead of Mr, Ms or Mrs.; and reducing references to gender-specific clothing.
The new guideline recommends that students must be allowed to use the washroom they are most comfortable with and that all schools must have at least one single-stall washroom, but students should not be forced to use it unless they want to.
Terrio said this, for instance, becomes problematic when, for instance, a 15-year-old boy may choose to use a female washroom.
“This is day-to-day human nature, lived experience that’s going to collide with this,” he said.
Where the guidelines work well, he suggested that Catholic schools should update its policies, while adding, “Those that our problematic, we’ll just ignore.”
Feedback about the guidelines on the St. Paul Journal’s Facebook page ranged from critical to supportive and showed the conflict between the two opposing viewpoints. Terrie Bagley Dubois wrote in: “You can not legislate putting the majority at risk or uncomfortable to cater to a very small minority. The Catholic schools are based on religious principles. If you disagree with those, send your kids to the public school. Simple.”
However, Shauna Cox said many people didn’t seem to grasp the difference between sex, which refers to biology, and gender, which is a person’s innate sense of self. “The Alberta Education's guidelines for best practices is a much needed step to protect the rights of transgender individuals that have long been denied in this province. Also, the beliefs of one religion shouldn't outweigh the rights of any individual (in this case, that of transgender students),” she wrote.
Local Wildrose MLA David Hanson said he had heard a lot of feedback about the issue through his constituency office, but he wanted to have a chance to talk to the local school boards to get their take since they are the ones who ultimately have to decide how to proceed.
However, he made note of the fact Eggen has expressed concerns over the Edmonton Catholic school board. That board has faced conflict and chaos as trustees have grappled with transgender policies, and Eggen has publicly reflected on his options, including possible dissolution of the board.
“Personally, I think it’s a bit heavy-handed that Minister Eggen is threatening to dissolve school boards if they don’t comply with the guidelines. That’s a little concerning, forcing people’s hand. . . School boards are duly elected, they respond to the people that elected them,” said Hanson, who said he would like to see the government and school boards use a common sense approach in creating policy around this issue.
Superintendent for Conseil Scolaire Centre-Est Marc Dumont said that his school division approved a policy regarding diverse sexual orientations and identities on Jan. 12, just the day before the new guidelines were released.
“We have pretty much every element that is in the guidelines in our policy,” he said. But he said the board would have to do some revision in light of Catholic leaders’ dissent and Bishop Terrio’s pastoral letter, as the division oversees four Catholic schools. “The fact that Bishop Terrio has expressed concern over the content of the guidelines, that’s going to mean we have to take that into consideration and better understand what Bishop Terrio’s position is.”
“In a sense, we’re caught in a crossfire from the minister ultimately, and the bishops who have all, as of this morning, spoken out about it,” he said on Thursday.
Dumont noted this was a complex issue and added, “I can’t say that we’ve wrapped around it just yet . . . hopefully we’re able to see a little more clearly once the dust settles.”
SPERD board chair Heather Starosielski said parents brought concerns brought to Mallaig and St. Paul Elementary parent councils about the guidelines last week.
“But I believe there’s confusion out there since the guidelines have become public. It’s not making any requirements of us. It’s making recommendations for us to consider as we’re making policy and administrative procedures,” she said, adding the board would use the guidelines as a resource, as well as other resources, including Bishop Terrio’s letter, while crafting a policy.
Within SPERD, there are certainly students that identify as LGBTQ students and the board wants to support those students as much as any other student, she said, noting that LGBTQ students are members of a “vulnerable” population.
“I think it’s very possible for us to make reasonable changes in most areas,” she said.
Some people have raised a flag over the issue of referring to gendered-clothing, pointing to the example of Two Hills Mennonite School, where girls wear long skirts. However, Starosielski said girls’ decision to wear skirts are a family choice and is not a dress code imposed by the school; this will not be affected by policy changes.
As to the guidelines about having gender-neutral washrooms or change areas for transgendered students, Starosielski said those instances would “probably be dealt with on a case-to-case basis,” and said she anticipated minimal impact on other students, since all students would have their privacy concerns respected. She noted that gender-neutral washrooms are becoming the norm in newer schools, and new school builds such as in Ashmont.
“You’ll be seeing more and more bathrooms built with fully enclosed stalls to allow for privacy of all individuals,” she said.
St. Paul Education Regional Division and Conseil Scolaire Centre-Est both have unique governance models, as they have the capability to administer Catholic and public schools. However, Starosielski said she didn’t see any fundamental disconnect between the direction from Alberta Education and Catholic school boards.
“Catholic schools have always been inclusive. The inclusivity is there – diversity is where we live. It’s everywhere. I do believe all Catholic schools are doing a great job, very quietly, of including all students,” she said.
She said the aim was for the school board to draft a policy that it could take to school councils to get feedback, before the March 31st deadline to submit the policy to Alberta Education.
“We want to make sure we have the best fit for all of our schools, keeping in mind we are respecting all of our communities,” said Starosielski.
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