At a news conference on Monday, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce signalled his approval of anti-trans policies that require students to obtain parental permission for pronoun or name changes. Such policies have been adopted in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan this summer. Lecce said that “parents must be fully involved and fully aware of what’s happening in the life of their children” in regards to students using different pronouns than the ones assigned to them at birth.
Lecce’s comments faced pushback from several Ontario institutions. Unifor, the largest private sector union in Canada, released a statement that denounced Lecce’s comments, and reaffirmed their support for the safety of 2SLGBTQIA+ students. Lana Payne, Unifor National President, said Lecce’s statement showed the Ontario PC government is “ready to throw trans kids under the bus to distract from policies that have decimated public services, including education.”
The Ontario Principals’ Council, an association representing “more than 5,400 principals and vice-principals in Ontario’s public elementary and secondary schools,” released a statement condemning the statements made by Lecce.
“While we believe that the ideal situation would include parents and guardians in the
conversations and decision making,” the statement reads. “We support current school board policy in Ontario that centers the students in the decision making and honours their right to self-identify, even when parental consent is not given, to support an equitable and inclusive learning environment.”
Mckenna Harper, a London, ON activist who fought in high school to provide privacy to students who wanted to use different pronouns at school, said that she was worried that the policy would endanger kids.
“A lot of kids who don’t come from great homes, if they’re outed, could face violence from the adults in their lives,” she told the CBC.
Students for Queer Liberation, a coalition of students in Toronto advocating for 2SLGBTQIA+ students, released a statement to their Instagram denouncing Lecce’s statements, stating directly, “parents do not own their children,” citing articles that changing pronouns decreases the likelihood of suicide attempts in trans children.
“Such a policy would force children to make the horrible choice between living as themselves and having access to the support they need in yet another part of their lives,” the statement reads. “Lecce’s statement is nothing short of a fascistic dog whistle.”
Fae Johnstone, president of Momentum, a non-profit focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy, posted her thoughts in a thread on X.com (formerly known as Twitter) about Lecce’s comments and the rising tide of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ policy and sentiment in Canada.
“Mandating parental consent for trans students will harm the most vulnerable trans kids: those without supportive parents,” she wrote. She continued her thoughts in a different thread, writing “We should be asking: who was pushing for these changes? Because it’s not parents.” Support rabble today!
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Lecce’s comments reflect policies by conservative premiers in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, who recently implemented changes that require parental permission in order to use pronouns or names different from what students were assigned at birth. The move would require 2SLGBTQIA+ students who adopted these changes to expose themselves to a possibly dangerous home life, where they could be subject to violence or homelessness as a result.
