Ontario’s education minister said he believes “parents must be fully involved” if their child chooses to use a different pronoun at school.
The comments were made at a news conference on Monday morning, where Stephen Lecce was outlining the changes students and parents can expect at Ontario schools come September.
They also come as Saskatchewan adopts a new gender and pronoun policy, joining New Brunswick in legislating parental consent for students under the age of 16 who want to change their given names and/or pronouns at school.
“I think we understand though that parents must be fully involved and fully aware of what’s happening in the life of their children,” Lecce said.
“I mean, often there are health implications, and I think we have to respect the rights of parents and recognize that these can be life-changing decisions, and I think parents want to be involved so that they can support their kids. And I think that’s a really important principle that we must uphold.”
Here we go. The Ontario PCs are signaling they’ll follow suit in attacking trans rights (of course, starting with kids) behind New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and possibly Manitoba.
Also … pronouns and name in school … have 'health implications’ ? Let’s be clear here. Lecce’s not talking about how using the right pronouns is good for trans/nb kids mental health. He’s dogwhistling to the conservatives about hormone blockers, HRT, and so on. That’s what he’s hinting at. What I hear is “don’t worry, we’ll nip this in the bud so kids won’t hear about trans people in school, and we’ll make sure there won’t be any kids transitioning too”. But maybe, maybe that’s just me?