What’s Happening in Alberta? Egale Explains

The Legislation (Bill 26)

• Ban gender-affirming hormonal treatments, including puberty blockers, and gender-affirming surgeries for youth under 18 

• The government has indicated that a Ministerial Order could allow establishment of guidelines setting out exceptions when a youth can be prescribed puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapies. 

• The government has said exceptions in the Ministerial Order will include youth aged 16 and 17 who have parental, physician and psychologist approval and youth who have already commenced their treatment. 

⏱️ Expected Timing:  

The current anticipated timing for legislation to come into effect is late 2024 to early 2025 

Healthcare Impacts, Explained

All reputable medical associations, including the Canadian Paediatric Society, agree that gender-affirming care is medically necessary and often lifesaving.

No one makes healthcare decisions lightly, and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Decisions about gender-affirming care must be made like all decisions about health care for young people: as the result of a medical professional’s careful consideration of a young person’s individual circumstances and needs. These decisions must remain between young people, their doctors, and their families. 

The government is politicizing healthcare and imposing untold suffering on vulnerable young people. 2SLGBTQI youth are three to five times more at risk for suicidal ideation compared to their peers. Researchers have found that being able to access medical transition, if desired, is linked to a variety of mental health benefits for trans and gender diverse people, including a reduction in suicidal ideation.

Youth need the support of medical professionals who they can trust, not to have necessary healthcare withheld from them. 

The Legislation (Bill 27)

• Require parental notification and a parental opt-in before any instance of classroom instruction on sexual orientation, gender identity, or human sexuality. 
   
• All classroom materials related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and human sexuality are to be pre-approved by the Ministry of Education. 
   
• For young people under the age of 16, parental consent will be required for name and pronoun changes at school. 
   
• For 16- and 17-year-olds, the parents will be notified if the student requests a different name or pronoun to be used at school. 
  

⏱️ Expected Timing:

The current anticipated timing for legislation to come into effect is September 2025 

Education Impacts, Explained

Part of the role of public education is allowing young people to learn about the society in which they live in all its diversity. All young people must be allowed to see themselves and their families reflected at school, as well as to learn about families that are different from theirs.  

The government is purposefully making schools less inclusive and welcoming to 2SLGBTQI students and students with 2SLGBTQI parents. Egale’s school climate survey, Still in Every Class in Every School, found that trans students in Alberta faced the highest incidence of verbal harassment in the country, with 90% of trans students in Alberta having been verbally harassed based on their gender and/or sexual identity. 2SLGBTQ students in Alberta were also more likely than students in any other province to report that topics around 2SLGBTQI dating or sexuality were never discussed in their classrooms (58%), and that when 2SLGBTQ relationships were discussed, they were framed in a negative way (14%). Students in Alberta’s schools need more support from the adults around them, not less. 

The study also found that trans participants who were prevented from using a chosen name or pronoun felt far more negatively about their schools than trans students who were not denied the use of a chosen name or pronoun. Trans students who were prevented from using their chosen name and pronouns were more likely to agree with the statements: “It is hard for me to feel accepted at my school” (77% versus 50%); “I wish I were in a different school” (59% versus 29%); “I don’t like being at school” (80% versus 57%). Research has shown that trans and gender diverse students who feel like they belong at school are much less likely to report extreme despair. The government is taking away schools’ ability to promote 2SLGBTQI students’ wellbeing.  

Forcing young people to choose between being misgendered and being outed against their will is unconscionable, and so is forcing teachers to ignore their professional ethical standards and harm their students in this way. 

The Legislation (Bill 29)

• School authorities, post-secondary institutions, and provincial sporting organizations will be required to establish, implement and maintain policies that address eligibility requirements to participate in the relevant sport, as well as processes or methods for determining whether individuals meet the eligibility requirements to participate in the relevant sport. 

• Organizations will be required to report to the government: 
  • complaints relating to athlete eligibility and how they were handled; 
  • any requests to establish mixed gender or mixed sex leagues, classes or divisions; 
  • the establishment of mixed gender or mixed sex leagues, classes or divisions.

⏱️ Expected Timing:  

The current anticipated timing for legislation to come into effect is Fall of 2025 

Sport Impacts, Explained: 

The Alberta government is clearly responding to a moral panic rooted in disinformation about trans athletes, particularly trans women in sport, that has gained traction in recent years. While the legislation doesn’t directly ban trans girls and women from sport, it provides the ability for schools and sporting organizations to do so.  

Excluding trans people from competing in athletic competitions simply because they’re trans is discriminatory and runs counter to the International Olympic Committee’s 2021 Framework on Fairness, Inclusion Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations, which advises sporting institutions to ensure that “athletes are not excluded solely on the basis of their transgender identity or sex variations.” 

Historically, 2SLGBTQI people have already experienced barriers to participation in both formal and informal sporting organizations and opportunities. A lack of safe and accessible washrooms and changerooms, threatening language and violence, and requirements of neatly fitting into the gender binary are just three of these barriers. The barriers that 2SLGBTQI people experience in sports are especially concerning as the benefits of participating in sporting communities serve to potentially offset the many heightened physical and mental health issues experienced by 2SLGBTQI people. 

Research confirms the numerous and growing physical and social benefits that sports offer: physical activity has long-term health benefits that include stress and anxiety reduction, positive cardiovascular impacts, and improvements in self-esteem and confidence. And yet a Trans PULSE Ontario study from 2014 found that 44% of trans people and 54% of nonbinary people have avoided going to a gym or a pool for fear of harassment and/or violence. A study in 2017 surveying 1,008 Canadian athletes showed that 67% of LGB athletes and 85% of trans athletes experienced at least one homophobic episode. 

We will be bringing legal action to challenge these assaults on our rights. 

But to do that, we need your support. 

We have never faced such a direct attack on our communities by an elected government. We need you to donate today.