Tiny turnout at WSD’s public meeting on transgender policy

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This article was published 09/11/2015 (3852 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After all the excitement last week when the Winnipeg School Division trustees unanimously approved a safe and caring policy in support of transgender and gender non-conforming students, Monday night’s meeting was much less dynamic.

WSD trustees held a special meeting to allow members of the public a chance to share their thoughts on the policy and what it could look like, but there were only two speakers.

Sonya Braun and Naomi Negrych both made presentations urging the WSD trustees to get “wide-reaching parental input” and consider all students when developing the safe and caring policy in support of transgender and gender non-conforming students.

“How you make policy is every bit as important as the policy itself,” said Braun, a North End resident who has three children aged 8, 11 and 13.

“If you run policy through without hearing parents’ concerns and responding to them, you will inevitably create a hostile environment for transgender students not a safe and caring environment.”

Last week, trustee Lisa Naylor, who brought the proposal for the policy to the board, said 165 students in the division are transgender.

When developed, she said the policy needs to cover transgender students’ needs around washrooms, change rooms, school teams and field trips.

There are gender-neutral washrooms in some schools in the WSD and the Seven Oaks School Division.

The next step is for the policy/program committee, which Naylor chairs, to write the policy. It is unclear how long that will take.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca