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UPDATED: Catholic schools approve new gender policy

Decision applies to 46 schools in B.C., including those in Vancouver
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Doug Lauson, superintendent of the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese, said this first instance of being asked to accommodate gender dysphoria convinced the archdiocese it needed to develop a policy to address this “emerging issue.”

An organization that governs more than 40 Catholic schools in B.C. has approved a gender policy that will apply to at least 16 Vancouver schools.

The decision was announced in a joint statement issued July 16 by the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese and the family of Tracey Wilson. Wilson is an 11-year-old who attended Sacred Heart elementary school in Delta for two years as a boy and then registered in 2012 as a girl and asked to be treated as such upon the recommendation of her psychologist.

The archdiocese said its new policy will accommodate variant gender expression and students with gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is defined as the discomfort that may be experienced by a person whose biological sex at birth is contrary to the gender they identify with.

The B.C. Catholic organization is the first in Canada to have passed a policy related to gender.

The Vancouver archdiocese stretches from Chilliwack to the North Shore and up to Powell River. It includes 40 Catholic elementary schools and six high schools.

The Wilsons had wanted Tracey to be addressed with female pronouns, permitted to use the girls’ or a private bathroom and wear a girl’s uniform.

Tracey’s mother Michelle said the school told her it would need to consult the board and later agreed Tracey could use the school’s accessible bathroom but said that was the only accommodation the school could make.

The Wilsons pulled Tracey out of Sacred Heart and enrolled her in a public school after a couple of months of going back and forth with the Catholic school.

“It was turning into a point of distress for her because having to live as male at the school when she was living her life outside the school as female, her anxiety was getting higher and her thoughts were getting more negative,” said Michelle.

“I was forced to move and leave my friends that had stayed with me through the whole time,” Tracey said.

The Wilsons subsequently filed a human rights complaint.

Doug Lauson, superintendent of CISVA, said this first instance of being asked to accommodate gender dysphoria convinced the archdiocese it needed to develop a policy to address this “emerging issue.”

The policy was developed over two years through mediation with the Wilsons.

The archdiocese’s policy only accommodates gender non-conforming behaviour. “Gender transitioning is contrary to Catholic teaching, and therefore the Catholic school cannot support any transitioning actions,” the policy states.

Lauson said the archdiocese draws the line at taking hormones to transition to another gender.

“The body is created in the image and likeness of God, so it is a divinely given gift not to be abused,” Lauson said.

The policy directs that an accommodation plan for gender dysphoric students be developed in collaboration with the family, educators, pastors and medical professionals.

“Such accommodations may include a change in common name, use of an alternate change room, uniform adaptations, classroom adaptations, alternate delivery of the Catholic sex education curriculum, sports team participation, field trip accommodations, and change of pronouns,” the policy states.

CISVA is to train teachers about how the Catholic faith relates to gender variance.

Wilson, now a former Catholic, would prefer a policy that was inclusive of everyone. She called it an imperfect start.

Lauson expects the policy to draw interest from other archdiocese across Canada.

The human rights complaint was resolved after CISVA approved the policy and paid the Wilsons an undisclosed sum.  

The Vancouver School Board adopted a revised gender identities policy in June.

crossi@vancourier.com

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