Breakenridge: Let's be honest about what's behind transgender politics

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Last year, the biggest issue in the culture wars was the issue of drag performers reading children's books to children at local public libraries. In many cities, there have been intense protests against these events – so intense, in fact, that Calgary has developed a special law to keep these protests well away from libraries.

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No matter what moral or religious objections these protestors may have, calling for a ban on such events is “the government knows best.” If the concept of “parental rights” were ever to be debated, it would obviously be about the parents who chose to accompany their children, not the protestors. No one else was forced to participate.

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There is an interesting and noteworthy overlap between those who chose to oppose other parents' choices and those who now identify themselves as champions and passionate advocates of parental rights. It's probably not really about parental rights.

It's all about Alberta's new gender identity policy, which one cabinet minister bluntly described as a choice between parental rights and the government. Of course, no one in the government was opposed to instant learning activities, and it would not be fair to accuse every proponent of this new policy of holding such views. But even within this policy, there is a conflict between the desire to increase parental rights and the decisions that undermine them.

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As far as the school is concerned, this greatly increases parental involvement. There will be a new opt-in policy for any sexuality-related curriculum or discussion of sexuality or gender issues, meaning parents must first approve their child's participation. And, of course, if the student wants to be called by a different name or pronoun, parental consent or notification is required.

However, when it comes to medical treatment and intervention for transgender youth, the government is currently operating on territory occupied by their parents. While parents, along with doctors, used to have the final say on such interventions, the province is now taking that decision out of their hands with new age limits and restrictions.

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There is reasonable debate about age-appropriate materials in schools or how much parents should be informed about certain issues. It may also be appropriate to consider the parameters surrounding the above treatments and interventions and whether there is a need for caution in these areas.

But these are not strictly speaking parental rights issues. If that was the point of the whole conversation, we'd be hearing more from parental rights advocates about where it's going down.

The government is also to blame for this double standard. They are the ones who made this policy and are trying to make it both ways. The prime minister recently took aim at “anyone who tries to obstruct the relationship between a child and a parent”, but one of the clear aims of his policy is to create those barriers.

Of course, we all understand the importance of the child-parent relationship, and this makes the concept of “parental rights” very attractive. After all, who would argue that parents should not have rights?

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All this is reminiscent of the “family values” policy of the 1990s. As important as family values, but “family values” was about a branding exercise for a more extreme form of social conservatism.

In addition to those who strongly support Alberta's new policy (including one prominent group that called it a “massive blow to transgender ideology”), there are social conservatives who have their finger on the pulse.

Let's try to be a little more honest about this fact.

“An Afternoon with Rob Breakenridge” airs weekdays from 12:30-3:00pm on QR Calgary.

[email protected]

Twitter: @RobBreakenridge

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