The LGBTQ2 community says comments made by New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs this week following the news of the government’s review on a protective policy for queer students is not only misinformation, but harmful.
On Tuesday, Higgs was asked numerous questions by reporters on Policy 713 — which provides safe, inclusive and gender affirming rules and spaces for students, including whether he believe children were born gay.
“Look … I’m not going to surmise or be hypothetical … no I don’t know, I don’t know,” he said.
He also said he did not think young children should be exposed to drag story time.
“We’re teaching kids to develop, and to grow, and they need to make a decision as they get older and get wiser, but are we trying to teach tolerance and acceptance or are we trying to teach promotion?”
Higgs would not elaborate on what he meant by the word “promotion”.
Rowan Little is training to be a teacher. They were in Hanwell Park when a small group of people protested a professional development day that included sessions on Policy 713.
“I am both angry and terrified,” they said. “The things they say are not facts, the things they say aren’t represented in the policy, they don’t understand what they are protesting.”
They said policies like the one under review by the Higgs government provide just a small measure of protection, but also representation.
“I have this beautiful memory,” they said. “It was my first week there, I was just observing, but during a school event on my last day I had a student run up to me and excitedly ask, ‘Are you the non-binary teacher?’ … My students have told me seeing me is great representation.”
Little worries about what schools would look like without Policy 713.
Those sentiments were echoed by Imprint Youth’s Amber Chisholm, who said there is data to back up the harmful effects of the rhetoric being used by the government.
“We know the LGBTQ youth are more likely to experience homelessness, are more likely to experience suicide and are less likely to experience both of those things if they can identify a supportive home environment,” Chisholm said.
She said it is worrying to see the debate happening, especially with people propelling misinformation about policies and about people within the queer community.
“Seeing those myths spread publicly by somebody in such a position of power is very worrying,” she said.
The government said the review was put in motion after hundreds of complaints were brought to the attention of the education minister, but an investigation by Child, Youth and Seniors Advocate Kelly Lamrock revealed only three letters of complaint.
None of them came from students or teachers.
Education Minister Bill Hogan doubled down on his claims during question period on Wednesday, saying Lamrock only asked for a sample.
When pressed further to publicly provide the other emails by Liberal leader Susan Holt, Hogan told her she could file an RTI, but made no commitment to release any of the other emails publicly.
For Jacob Barry, the language and rationale used by the premier are not surprising, given the province’s track record on queer and reproductive rights.
“The rollback of this, and I’m calling it a rollback … is because that typically is what a review means, we’ve seen this time and time again,” they said.
They said the timing of the review, the small protest at Hanwell Park, and the debate happening now speaks directly to the priorities of the government.
Barry said this is a political wedge the government is trying to use to divide and conquer, but it won’t work.
“There are people that they can look to for support. There are people that they can look to see that you can make it out of your teen years, you can make it out of your youth and you can do it just as you are,” Barry said.