Groups supporting and opposing policies surrounding LGBTQ2 children in schools ended up at the legislature Wednesday afternoon.
The protests centred around parental rights, school policies on gender identity, and how teachers should refer to transgender youth.
The group named “The 1 Million March 4 Children” started its day at The Forks and city hall before winding up at the legislative building.
They stated their mission is to safeguard children from gender ideology teachings, sexual indoctrination, and exposure to explicit sexual content and to ensure parental consent remains paramount.
The group was supporting policies recently enacted in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, which would require children under the age of 16 to get parental consent before teachers could use their preferred names and pronouns.
“We have to save the children from being put in harm’s way. They are innocent. They are not of age to decide I’m going to change my gender and there definitely should be no pornography books in schools,” said protester Mavis Friesen.
While the counter-protesters believe such policies are a violation of children’s rights.
“I’m the parent of a trans child. I’m also a minister in an affirming congregation here in the city and I believe love is important and needs to be shared,” said Reverend Tricia Gerhard.
Counter-protestor Laura Weibe said it seems the upset is coming from a place of misinformation regarding the community.
“Also just getting information from places that might not have the most unbiased education regarding our community, there’s so many places to get information.”
However, protester Carol McGann said it’s not coming from a place of hatred for the community. “We actually do support the LGBTQ what we don’t support is our children being indoctrinated at school, being taught and shown things they shouldn’t be taught and shown until they are more mature.”
Meanwhile, Marc Kuly, a professor at the University of Winnipeg called the country-wide protests both concerning and frustrating.
“I saw what happens when politics and misinformation and fear all combine together and find as their target as a vulnerable group of people.”
Kuly also says the issue regarding parental rights is a non-starter. “In Manitoba, parental rights are enshrined in the Public Schools Act. There’s no lack of information for parents and there’s no agenda in schools except for the agenda to uphold the charter of rights and freedoms.”
The Manitoba Teachers Society, which participated in Wednesday’s demonstrations says it stands by what is being taught in Manitoba classrooms.
“We have teachers and teacher librarians who ensure that the books that students are selecting are age appropriate and line up with the curriculum,” said Nathan Martindale, Society President.
Winnipeg police say they closely monitored the protests and there were no incidents to report. The demonstration dispersed by mid-afternoon.
— With files from Global’s Teagan Rasche
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