Supporters rally for Alberta's laws on transgender youth and athletes

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Albertans in favour of new laws dealing with transgender youth medical treatments, transgender athletes, and parental notifications from schools held a rally outside the legislature in Edmonton on Saturday afternoon.

A crowd of about 200 gathered by the steps of the legislature in the early afternoon to hear speakers at an event organized by Parents and Kids Together, a coalition of parental rights, religious, and detransition groups. Supporters came from the Edmonton region and northern Alberta, and as far as Calgary and Lethbridge.

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Organizer Jojo Ruba said parents need to know what’s happening in schools when it comes to sexuality and gender.

“We shouldn’t be teaching kids things at school that parents don’t know about. We want to encourage conversations on sexuality and gender,” he told Postmedia. “Parents must be able to protect their kids and they can’t do that if they don’t know what’s going on.”

Saturday’s event comes after hundreds of opponents to the new transgender policies protested at the legislation last weekend.

The trio of laws ban gender-affirming surgeries for youth 17 and under and hormone therapies such as puberty blockers for youth 15 and under (Bill 26), require parental consent to change names or pronouns in schools (Bill 27), and restrict transgender women athletes from competing against women assigned female sex at birth (Bill 29).

Critics say the laws reverse the human rights and bodily autonomy of transgender youth, put transgender youth at a higher risk of suicide and self-harm, and make it harder to access sexual education. One review of 27 studies conducted in Europe, U.S., Canada and other countries including almost 8,000 teens and adults found less than one per cent of transgender patients regretted surgery.

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Speakers on Saturday touched on a range of topics from parental rights and school notifications, to speeches from people who regretted transitions, to more religious speeches saying to “praise God” for these laws and Premier Danielle Smith as the crowd cheered.

Faith Groleau, from Ontario, told the crowd she began transitioning at 15 or 16 and doesn’t think she or her mother were properly informed about risks. She says doctors improperly diagnosed her and didn’t treat a mental illness at the time, and worries now she may be infertile.

“If these legislations had been in place then, the doctors would have been forced to properly assess me.”

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

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