Alex Ash and Mariah Darling say the last two weeks have created a lot of exhaustion and anxiety.
The two are part of Chroma NB, an advocacy group for the LGBTQ2 community in the Saint John Region.
“While we were worried about the changes that were coming, we all knew that we were in the dark,” Ash said in an interview on Saturday. “We’ve been in the dark since the beginning.”
Chroma NB was not consulted prior to the changes being made to policy 713, which is intended to protect and create safe, gender-affirming spaces for queer youth in New Brunswick.
One of the biggest changes was requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16, to change their name or pronoun at school, which advocates say could lead to students being misgendered or dead-named.
“We felt that when it was posed to the reviews, we assumed, erroneously assumed, that multiple groups would be contacted in order to help foster a sense of inclusion and to make sure that the review is done ethically and transparently,” Ash said.
The New Brunswick government has defended its decision to review the policy and make changes citing parental rights, adding parents deserve to know. It also argued it allowed teachers to maintain professionalism and not go against parental wishes.
“To assume that a child under 16 doesn’t know themselves enough to know how they would like to identify and or what name they want to be called is ludecris, and it’s really upsetting and it also takes away agency from young people,” Darling said.
But for them, and Chroma NB, this is far beyond who wasn’t consulted, it is a human rights issue. They said it feels like this issue isn’t really parental rights, but parental comfort.
“It might be parental discomfort,” Ash said. “It’s OK to ask for help. If, as a parent, you need help to understand some of those shifts and challenges in your child’s development then definitely reach out to some of the organizations, because we would love to help.”
Manny Travers, also with Chroma NB, said he felt a lot of emotions when the changes were released on June 8.
“This is harmful to both the teachers and all students, not just the trans students in question, because it shows that discrimination is acceptable, even under certain “protective” clauses,” he said in an email. “This should never be tolerated, not in a school environment, not in an educational environment, and not in a social environment.”
Travers said the change in the policy gives permission to people, whether in positions of authority or not, to harm others.
“This shouldn’t be about other people, this should be about trans students,” he said.
Ash and Darling said any policy that removes the ability for students to demand their dignity and anatomy lead to high rates of depression, self-harm, youth suicide and homelessness.
“We’ve seen it. You know we run programming in the city. We run a rainbow club drop in as a brave space for youth at lunch times and after school programs and while our hope is every school experience and home experience is wonderful, where everyone is able to thrive, it’s just always the case,” Ash said.
Chroma NB is part of a growing list of groups not consulted on the changes, which include the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association, the New Brunswick Women’s Council, and Pride in Education.
In the end, though, Ash, Darling and Travers said the focus must be on restoring the human rights of queer youth.
“The louder you are, the better, because you’re not just fighting for what’s right, but you’re fighting for those who don’t have the privilege to stand up,” Travers said. “Don’t ever settle for anything less than what you need in order to prosper.”
Comments