Vancouver parents continue lawsuit over trangender student policy
Three Vancouver parents are pressing ahead with a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit demanding the Vancouver School Board change a transgender student policy that they say takes away people's right to know about any change in the gender identity or sexual orientation of their children.
Lawyer Masao Morinaga said on Monday that his clients' main concern is that the policy passed last year allows students to keep these matters secret from their parents. Under the policy, students can request that their conversations on gender identity or sexual orientation with school counsellors and staff be kept confidential.
The petition was filed last November and Mr. Morinaga said he hopes to schedule a hearing in Vancouver's B.C. Supreme Court in the next several months. He said he has affidavits from about 175 other parents, mostly from Vancouver's Chinese community, in support of the petition.
In an affidavit explaining the policy, Maureen Ciarniello, Vancouver's assistant superintendent, said students can feel unsafe sharing their gender identity or sexual orientation with their parents because they "sometimes fear that they will be kicked out of their families."
Full Globe and Mail article can be accessed here.