One of the first duties of the newly elected Vancouver School Board could be to deal with a lawsuit from parents over the board’s sexual orientation and gender identities policy passed in June.
Three Vancouver parents filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of B.C. Oct. 31 requesting the Vancouver School Board re-examine the revised policy. The lawsuit is reportedly supported by more than 175 affidavits from parents.
Lawyer Masao Morinaga states parents Xiaofeng Huang, Yuen Cheng Li and Shaohui Li want the board to reconsider washroom and information sharing clauses in the policy.
The policy uses the term trans with an asterisk and states: “The use of washrooms and change rooms by trans* students shall be assessed on a case-by-case basis” and “trans* students shall have access to the washroom and change room that corresponds to their gender identity.”
The board will work to make single-stall, gender-neutral washrooms available.
Morinaga calls the use of the term “trans*” vague and problematic because gender nonconforming is included under the term trans* in the VSB policy.
“A lot of criticisms against the parents has been, oh, they’re just being fearful, fear mongering, what kind of a boy would pretend that he’s transgendered so that he can access these washrooms?” Morinaga said. “But it’s like how you wouldn’t want a man to access a woman’s washroom. Ninety-nine per cent of men, or maybe a hundred, would just go in and come out, but it’s a matter of comfort.”
Morinaga, a lawyer with Lawrence Wong and Associates, acknowledged statistics indicate trans people face a greater risk of harm from others.
“But harm is at the extreme point of the spectrum,” Morinaga said. “Many other students deal with body image issues, some people of modest religions, they cover themselves even in public.
What are they supposed to do when they go into these washrooms where they might have to expose themselves to somebody who’s gender nonconforming?”
Morinaga says the gender policy of Edmonton public schools better respects a diverse student body because it states: “Staff shall consistently demonstrate sensitivity to the needs and safety of all students with respect to restroom access.”
Tash Wolfe, who works for the transgender health information program of Vancouver Coastal Health and has worked with homeless, queer and trans youth, notes Muslim people are trans, too.
“Trans people come from all different cultural backgrounds,” Wolfe said.
Morinaga also argues the policy violates the city’s building code, which requires sex-segregated washrooms.
The parents in the lawsuit are concerned the VSB policy states: “Students’ rights to discuss and express their gender identity and/or gender expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much private information to share will be respected.”
Parents want to be informed about what’s going on with their children as soon as possible, Morinaga said.
VSB associate superintendent Maureen Ciarniello told the Courier in May, “Very few [trans students] have parents who aren’t aware. Their families knew this before the schools knew this.”
Morinaga says the parents believe the clause hints at the possibility of subsequent abuse.
“They feel that they’ve been presumed guilty before even doing anything,” he said.
Wolfe said youth questioning their gender identity sometimes turn to friends or a trusted teacher before they come out to their parents.
Morinaga says the board has 21 days to respond to the court petition in writing.
VSB chairperson Patti Bacchus, who was re-elected Saturday in a board that split between Vision Vancouver and the NPA with a lone Green trustee holding the balance of power, said Nov. 12 the board hadn’t received official notice of the petition so she couldn’t respond directly to the lawsuit.
Bacchus defended the policy.
“We had a [trans] student that had stopped going to school because they didn’t feel safe and comfortable and they said they were now thinking of going back to school because this policy was in place,” she said. “That’s a serious thing.”
A redacted version of the petition filed with the court states the petitioners want a declaration that the board had no authority under the School Act to approve the policy in June.
Morinaga says the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner is investigating the VSB for a possible breach of duty under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act regarding redacted materials related to the policy.
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