Kelsey Robbins, executive director of St. Albert’s Outloud, a non-profit that supports 2SLGBTQI+ youth, describes its community of young people, as well as allies and support workers, as shocked, appalled and terrified.
It’s in response to Premier Danielle Smith’s announcement that the UCP government is planning to introduce legislation to restrict health care options for Alberta's transgender youth.
The province will follow Saskatchewan’s lead by requiring parental permission for pronoun changes for students under 15. It will also require schools to notify parents of gender-identity changes for 16- and 17-year-olds, and require parents to opt in to sex education or any lessons involving gender identity or sexual orientation, among many changes.
“We knew that something was coming,” Robbins said. “But this is beyond the level of cruelty that we could ever have imagined for our community.”
Robbins said the province never approached Outloud, which works closely with young transgender people, to learn how the measures could affect children.
Instead, Outloud reached out to UCP politicians such as St. Albert MLA Dale Nally, who is also minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, along with Arts, Culture and Status of Women Minister Tanya Fir.
“We said that the mental health of our community is not great right now, because everybody sees this coming down the line,” Robbins said. “And we made it very clear that this was not healthy. This was not safe, that this would cause a spike in suicide attempts.”
After Nally, at a Monday news conference, signalled his support for Smith's policy announcement, Robbins “had a really good cry.”
“It just had the very opposite tone from the conversations we've had, and it was disappointing to see,” they said. “We thought we were heard.”
Robbins had expected the government to announce that schools would require parental permission for pronoun changes. But the proposed ban on puberty blockers and the ban on hormone therapies for children 15 and under was a surprise, they said.
“Our kids have parents that are now in crisis mode trying to support their youth,” they said. “We are just trying to keep kids alive.”
Young people are coming to Robbins afraid their transgender friends will be outed to parents who are not supportive, they said.
“There's a ridiculous amount of fear, and there's also such sadness in every single queer space that you walk into right now.”
Robbins fears Outloud’s in-school support programs will be cut once the education ministry becomes responsible for approving all third-party materials on sexual education and gender identity.
“We support youth that are already marginalized, that already have these things that they know about themselves,” Robbins said. “We support them to feel loved and feel seen in their community. And right now, that is being twisted into something that we are not doing. I won't be surprised if we can't go back, which is unfortunate because we have a lot of support from the school districts.”
2SLGBTQI+ groups Egale Canada and the Stepping Stone Foundation said they will take legal action against the province.
Robbins said Outloud’s role in the coming months will be providing support and safety for members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.
“This is a direct attack on a protected group,” Robbins said.
