Transgender students included in Vancouver school policy review

A local trans-rights advocate is applauding the efforts of the Vancouver School Board to update its school policy and student conduct guidelines to better support transgender students.

The school boardhas spent the past few months listening to concerns in order to revise a 10-year-oldplan created to help foster a safe learning environment.

Marie Little, chair of Vancouver'sTrans Alliance Society, says therevisions are both welcomed, and necessary.

"It indicates people are beginning to move in the right direction in their thinking," she said.

The new content inthe draft plan includes a section on gender identity and expression, and the guidelines outline practices that include allowing trans students to dress, within existing school rules,according to their self-identified gender and tobe called by a name or pronoun that matches their identity.

Under the plan's revisions, which will bepresented for approval later next month,teachers are advised to cut down on sex-segregated activities, andtrans students arepermitted to use washrooms or change rooms that match their gender identity.

TheVSBsays decisions around gender-separated facilities will beassessed on a case-by-case basis.The proposaldoesn'tgo as far as a recent move by the Vancouver Park Board to create gender neutral washrooms.

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Littlesays steps like those outlinedin the plan are important, because those who identify as transgender are often bullied more than others in the LGBTQ community.

"The whole thing about being gay or straight is, for a whole long time, [it's] easier to hide. If you're trans, [and you] show up one day at schoolin a skirt, everybody's going to notice," Little said.

But social policy activist and radio hostKari Simpson says the revisions go too far andgive preferential treatment to trans students,when the school board should be treating all students as equal.

"We're saying,'All you other young ladies don't matter. If the 17-year-old grad studentwants to become a woman and use your washroom, too bad. We're going to let him,'" she said.

Littledenies that the trans community isasking to be treated differently.

"People who are trans don't have a choice about it," she said. "They just want to live their lives and they are no threat to anyone."