Friday, April 10, 2009

Queermonton: Ch-ch-changes

VUE Weekly, Canada
Week of April 9, 2009, Issue #703
Queermonton: Ch-ch-changes
Tamara Gorzalka / tam@vueweekly.com

I woke up last week to a text from a friend excitedly asking if I’d
read the newspaper yet. I knew immediately the story she was referring
to: “Alberta’s law to embrace gay rights,” read the headline. I was
initially as excited about the announcement as my messaging friend,
but then, as often happens, reality set in.

For the uninitiated, provincial Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett
announced last week that the provincial government will be amending
Alberta’s Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act to
include sexual orientation. It’s an alteration that’s purely symbolic,
since a Supreme Court of Canada decision forced the
anti-discrimination protection into being more than a decade ago, but
Alberta’s government has been kicking and screaming its way out of
acknowledging it ever since.

When the federal decision came down, Alberta was the only province to
resist the ruling, merely “reading in” the decision rather than
ammending its legislation. It’s not simply that the government only
agreed (if a court order could be called agreeing) to make the change
in such an invisible way, it’s that they have denied any discussion
about it since, with the intervening years of rejection reminding
queers in Alberta that they don’t carry quite the same worth as
everyone else.

Blackett has called the upcoming change “long overdue,” “just common
sense” and said, “We’d look very, very foolish if we said ‘No, we
wouldn’t do that.’” Which is all fine and dandy except that this is
the same government that’s been denying the change for a decade.
Because 10 years is okay, but 11? Well, that would just be “foolish.”

Perhaps more troubling is there is still no mention of including
gender identity and expression as a protected right. If a person is
fired, denied housing or otherwise discriminated against in Alberta
because they are transgender, gender non-confirming or in any other
way perceived as gender-variant, they will still be without recourse.
Until a court case challenges this in the same way that Vriend
challenged the exclusion of sexual orientation, our trans brothers and
sisters are being abandoned well behind the fight.

Still, something is better than nothing, right? Oh, if only.
Unfortunately Blackett has decided to add some other changes along
with the anti-discrimination amendment, including a new “parent’s
choice” provision enshrining parental rights to have their children
opt out of classes that they don’t believe in—a right parents actually
already have under the provincial school act.

Both are symbolic changes. One enshrines a protection that’s a decade
old, finally giving value to Alberta’s queer community. The other
draws attention to a parent’s ability to pull their child out of a
class that they don’t agree with. It’s hard to say that one is more
worthy than the other, especially since both deal with rights that are
already there.

But I’m of the mind that kids should learn everything there is to
learn in the curriculum. Just because a child is taught something
doesn’t mean he or she will take it as the indesputable truth. A
parent should always be around to discuss and debrief what their child
has learned in school, and if they disagree, they have the perfect
opportunity to talk about it and give their kid both sides of the
issue.

Students still learn very little about sex, gender and health issues.
Do parents really need the right to deny their children the one class
of their entire schooling when they’re going to cover sexual
orientation or birth control?

Blackett says he doesn’t believe that “parent’s choice” will cause
some parents to pull their children out of classes about evolution and
things that are in opposition to their religious beliefs. “As a
parent,” opined Blackett, “most would say they can teach religious
beliefs based on what is taught at home.” It’s confusing then, to
wonder why he’s suggested the amendment. But that’s not as puzzling as
his other rationale behind the change, that a gay parent might not
want their children to attend a class about heterosexuality. That’s
just ... no.

Minister Balckett has also suggested a change to the Alberta Human
Rights Commission, removing their ability to adjudicate cases of free
speech, saying such cases are better handled by the laws in the
criminal code. This could be another blow to all minorities in Alberta
who are affected by hate literature, as affected groups will no longer
be able to file a complaint with the commission.

If any good has come from these omnibus changes, it’s that people are
talking about these issues again. We can celebrate our victories while
still looking at the road ahead, and without blindly accepting what’s
offered. Perhaps with these wins on our side, now we can pick up the
fight for the Ts in LGBTQ. We’ve still got a long way to go towards an
Alberta with protections and equality for everyone.


http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=11571

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