BC NDP Votes Down Bill Restricting Gender Transition Procedures for Children

VICTORIA—A bill calling for parental consent for pronoun change at schools and restrictions on gender transition procedures for minors was narrowly defeated before first reading at the B.C. legislature.

The Protecting Minors From Gender Transition Act private member’s bill was tabled by OneBC MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream Tara Armstrong Oct. 8, but was voted down 48-40 before first reading, with blanket opposition from the governing NDP. OneBC MLAs and B.C. Conservatives voted in favour of a first reading of the bill.

“I stand before you today not only as a member at this legislature but as a mother. British Columbia is sleepwalking into the greatest medical scandal in modern history, and it’s our kids who are at risk,” Armstrong said in introducing the bill. “In B.C. today, doctors are causing irreversible harm to children with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.”

The bill proposed outlawing gender transition surgery for minors in B.C. and bar the use of public funds to provide or promote puberty blockers or gender transition surgery to minors. It would have given parents the right to sue doctors up to 25 years later if their children suffered mental or physical harm as a result of gender transition medical services provided.

In addition, the bill proposed that school officials be required to notify parents within three days if they learn that a child believes their gender is different than their sex of birth. The bill would also have barred schools from promoting to students sex change operations or social transitioning.

‘Billboard Chris’

Armstrong’s bill was introduced following a morning presentation by Chris Elston, known as “Billboard Chris,” at an event in the legislature building. Elston addressed an audience of around 100 about the mental and physical dangers of child gender transition. Elston is known for going to public places and having conversations with passersby while wearing billboards with messages opposing child gender transition.

Elston said schools shouldn’t be promoting gender transition to children.

“Teachers are engaging in what is effectively a psychological intervention with these children with no training to do so,” Elston said.

Medical professionals themselves should be taking the lead in stopping gender transition procedures for children, he said.

“It shouldn’t take politicians to put a stop to this practice, because the medical organizations themselves should be stopping it, like what happened in Finland. It was the pediatricians, not the politicians, that stopped it in Finland. Same thing in Sweden, where they conducted a systematic review of all the scientific literature,” Elston said.

“But when medical bodies fail to uphold their Hippocratic Oath to pursue no harm, it does become the job of government.”

NDP’s Rejection

Responding to the introduction of Armstrong’s bill, NDP MLA and B.C. Deputy Premier and Attorney General Niki Sharma said the bill was spreading “intolerance” and “hate.” She accused OneBC of “racism” and trying to interfere with the relationship between children, parents, and their doctors.

“We believe that we shouldn’t be picking on vulnerable kids and the decisions that their parents make with their doctors,” Sharma said.

In remarks at the legislature, OneBC Leader Dallas Brodie recounted the story of a father she met whose 8-year-old son was encouraged by school staff “to believe he was actually a girl” and was called by new pronouns without his father’s knowledge. Such situations leave parents “justifiably enraged,” Brodie said.

Sharma dismissed the concerns as “disproven conspiracy theories,” saying it was “another sad day in the B.C. legislature when conservative politicians are trying to dictate what parents should be doing and decisions they should be making with love and support for their children.”

At a press conference, Brodie said Sharma was “name-calling” to avoid discussing the issue on its merit.

“We have known that the NDP resorts to name-calling and accusing us of some other bigger agenda, and this is becoming a pattern,” Brodie said.

The B.C. NDP did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

OneBC was founded by Brodie and Armstrong, who are both former B.C. Conservative MLAs, earlier this year. Brodie was ejected by B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad on March 7 for comments she made about the nature of the discussion of Canada’s residential school system. Armstrong and fellow Conservative MLA Jordan Kealy left the party the same day in solidarity with Brodie.

Saskatchewan and Alberta

In August 2023, Saskatchewan put new policies in effect requiring a parent or guardian’s consent for students under 16 to change their names or pronouns at school. When the legislation faced legal challenge by activist groups, the provincial government used the notwithstanding clause of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms to pass the law.

Alberta also introduced legislation last year relating to gender identity in health care, education, and sports. The new laws bar children under 16 from being prescribed puberty blockers, ban all “top” or “bottom” surgeries for minors, require parental permission for name or pronoun changes at school for any student under 16, and require parental permission for students to be taught about gender identity or sexual orientation in school.

Alberta’s laws are being challenged in court, with the provincial government saying it may use the notwithstanding clause if it has to in order to maintain the laws.