Hundreds gather for local ‘parental rights’ march, met by counter-protesters By: Erik Pindera Posted: 1:51 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 20, 2023 Last Modified: 12:37 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 21, 2023 Updates

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Chants of “Leave our kids alone” and “Love is louder” clashed outside the Manitoba legislature Wednesday, as hundreds of protesters squared off over LGBTTQ+ issues in public education.

The initial Winnipeg rally was organized as part of “1MillionMarch4Children” protests across the country. The group says it is “against gender ideology” and “sexually explicit content” in schools.

In a counter-protest, many pro-LGBTTQ+ and transgender rights supporters also gathered at the downtown Winnipeg site to voice their concern about the aims of the “parental rights” rally organizers.

Members of the two groups shouted back and forth, waving protest placards, before several hundred more 1MillionMarch4Children protesters arrived at around 11:30 a.m. from other rally locations.

The gathering at times turned volatile, with protesters arguing and chanting through bullhorns, as people on both sides and police tried to keep the groups separate.

Others hurled abuse, with one protester shouting the pro-LGBTTQ+ crowd was “sick in the head.”

A Winnipeg Police Service official at the legislative grounds estimated there were about 1,500-2,000 people in total by just past noon — a number that included around 250-300 counter-protesters.

The main group gathered on the west lawn, where speakers addressed the crowd. Former local radio host Shadoe Davis took to the microphone to voice his support, saying the protest was to “stop the sexual indoctrination of our children in publicly funded” institutions.

One marcher, 68-year-old Carol McGann, said she supports the LGBTTQ+ community, but takes issue with what she, too, called indoctrination in schools — and gender-affirming health care for youth, which she referred to as “castration.”

“They’re being taught and shown things they shouldn’t be taught and shown until they are more mature,” she said.

Youth must have parental consent and a referral from a health-care professional to get access to gender-affirming care in Manitoba.

University students Laura Wiebe, 20, and Keegan Vergara, 21, both of whom identify as queer, helped to organize the counter-protest.

“Being queer wasn’t something that was ever talked about, so I had no understanding of what these feelings were that I was experiencing, all I knew was that they were ‘bad,’” Vergara said, recounting hate, bullying and harassment from other students while in grade school.

“It wasn’t something that I felt I had support from in terms of my teachers — and now they’re bringing these discussions into the classrooms and providing spaces for youth to navigate those feelings.”

The counter-protesters said they think the protest group is misinformed and do not understand the LGBTTQ+ community.

“I think it comes from a place of not knowing, and getting information from places that might not have unbiased education regarding our community,” Wiebe said.

“I think that’s exactly what we’re here for: to make sure that people are getting the proper education around our communities, in ways that they haven’t for the longest time.”

After a provincial election leaders debate at the downtown Winnipeg convention centre Wednesday, Progressive Conservative Leader Heather Stefanson told reporters she did not know what happened or was said at the rallies — but added she has heard from voters Manitobans want to have “more of a say” regarding “parental rights in schools.”

She did not mention LGBTTQ+ issues directly.

“I think that’s exactly what we’re here for: to make sure that people are getting the proper education around our communities, in ways that they haven’t for the longest time.”–Laura Wiebe, student

The PC party has recently begun an advertising campaign focused on parental rights, which has been criticized as a wedge issue ahead of the Oct. 3 provincial election.

Fort Whyte PC candidate Obby Khan is the face of the parental rights campaign.

He did not address LGBTTQ+ issues when asked by the Free Press about the campaign Tuesday, instead pointing to concerns over social media, the internet, cellphones and other significant technology changes in recent decades.

“There’s so many things happening now that we don’t know, I mean bullying, online harassment, sexual exploitation, behavioral concerns, social media, cellphones in classrooms, all of those things need to be reopened,” Khan said Tuesday.

Some of the 1MillionMarch4Children protesters had walked from Winnipeg city hall to the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street, and then back to city hall.

Others marched from The Forks to York Avenue and south on Main Street, and then west on Broadway to the legislature grounds, causing temporary street closures in the area.

The WPS public affairs office said the demonstrations dispersed by mid-afternoon, and it had no incidents to report.

— with files from Tyler Searle and Danielle Da Silva

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.