07) POLITICAL STORM OVER VANCOUVER LGBTQ+ POLICY UPDATE

PV Vancouver Bureau

            With five months left until the Nov. 15 municipal elections across British Columbia, another political storm is raging at the Vancouver School Board (District 39). This time, it's not over the impact of funding cuts and downloaded costs imposed on school boards by Christy Clark's Liberal government.

            The latest battle is over a long‑awaited revision of the VSB's policies to protect the rights and interests of LGBTQ+ students. Adopted by the COPE‑led school board during its 2002‑2005 term, the policy was a groundbreaking step to help achieve a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students. Now, the revised policy has become the target of a group of right‑wing, homophobic Christian fundamentalists, hoping to find a wedge issue to win more political influence over the Board.

            After 2005, it became clear that more action was necessary to address the serious problems faced by students who identify as trans or gender non-conforming, particularly around access to washrooms, or assignments to gender-divided sports teams. Many trans and gender‑variant youth face threats and even violence for attempting to use facilities which match their own identity. Some even avoid going to the bathroom for the entire school day, to avoid the dangers of harassment in such locations.

            Former COPE school trustee Jane Bouey led the effort to adopt the original policy during her 2002‑2005 term. Elected again in 2008, she took the initiative to press for an update, a process involving in‑depth consultations with the Board's broadly‑based Pride Advisory Committee. An initial draft was submitted to the Trustees in mid‑2011. But Bouey did not win re‑election that fall, and progress on the revised policy slowed down.

            This spring, the Advisory Committee was finally able to present the Board with a "Proposed Policy Revision on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities". The draft is grounded in the existing policy, with updated guidelines to protect trans and gender‑variant youth.

            This sparked a backlash by a fundamentalist Christian group led by Cheryl Chang, chair of the Parent Advisory Committee at Lord Byng Secondary in Vancouver. Chang is also an outspoken Conservative activist.

            Taking the name Protecting All Children In Schools (PACIS), this group accused the VSB of inadequate consultations. Public hearings into the draft, initially slated for one evening at a VSB Committee 3 meeting, stretched over three nights during May. Chang circulated a public letter on behalf of the Lord Byng PAC, attacking the policy update but without even consulting that body. PACIS also circulated a petition containing a wide range of falsehoods and misstatements about the policy.

            Initially, much of the media coverage of the issue was sympathetic to the claim that "the process was too rushed", despite having been several years in preparation. As the hearings continued, it became clear that PACIS is deeply opposed to policies which aim to improve safety for LGBTQ+ students.

            Another argument is that the city's large Chinese-speaking population is being bullied into accepting policies which conflict with their "cultural norms". But at the hearings, a number of powerful speakers in favour of the policy update were of Chinese ethnic backgrounds.

            Supporters of the new B.C. Safer Schools Coalition also mobilized to attend the hearings and make presentations. While PACIS urged the Board to ask the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons to consider the update, a wide range of medical and psychological experts spoke eloquently about the importance of adopting the changes. Not a single speaker with medical credentials opposed the update.

            Chang was dealt a devastating rebuke at a May 20 meeting of the Lord Byng PAC, when a huge turnout of parents voted overwhelmingly to direct her to withdraw the letter which sparked the controversy.

            The next step in the process is a June 11 meeting of Committee 3, which will consider recommendations for further amendments to the policy update. A June 16 full meeting of the VSB's nine trustees will vote on these recommendations and then adopt or reject the policy. Given their track records, it appears that the vote will likely split between six Vision trustees who support improving the current policy, versus three right‑wing NPA trustees in opposition. However, important provisions to protect the confidentiality of students who approach school staff for advice on sexual orientation and gender identity questions may be watered down.

            Whatever happens on June 16, it seems certain that the issue will spill over into the civic election. Two of the NPA trustees, Ken Denike and Sophia Wu, used the 2011 election to launch a stealth campaign to mobilize voters from various fundamentalist churches. The current controversy seems tailor‑made for a similar tactic, with the strategic goal of taking advantage of a growth in anti‑Vision sentiment around civic development issues to help the NPA take over the VSB. Such an outcome could threaten the Board's commitment to safer schools for LGBTQ+ students. It would also remove the most powerful voice against Liberal education policies among B.C.'s sixty school boards.

(The above article is from the June 16-30, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)