Over 100 people attend 1 Million March 4 Children in Fort St. John

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The 1 Million March 4 Children, organized by Hand Off Our Kids, was attended by over 100 people in Fort St. John Wednesday morning.

According to the Hands Off Our Kids website, they aim to “safeguard children from gender ideology teachings, sexual indoctrination, exposure to explicit sexual content.”

David Blaney, an attendee of the march, said the group was there because they were concerned for kids in B.C. regarding the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) being taught in schools.

The SOGI 123 website says it is not its own curriculum, it is one of the aspects of diversity that is embedded across grades and subject areas. SOGI-inclusive education means discussing diversity and learning the importance of treating everyone with dignity and respect, according to the website.

Blaney said they are not particularly concerned about local schools or what’s happening in Fort St. John and area, they’re concerned “about the question more broadly.”

Energeticcity.ca contacted School District 60, and superintendent Stephen Petrucci declined to comment.

Blaney said he wasn’t there because he has a problem with people who are part of the LGBTQ community.

“We’re just concerned about kids and the things that they’re being exposed to at this time and a lot of the gender confusion that’s being introduced to them,” he said.

“Looking at a lot of studies that have been done by psychiatrists and psychologists, they are also concerned about that.”

According to the American Psychiatric Association, it has been widely known since 1973 that a person’s sexual orientation is not a mental disorder to be “cured” or “treated.”

Blaney said he doesn’t have a problem with people being accepting of other people who have different sexual ideologies.

“It seems like what’s being pressed upon the kids is to also accept the lifestyle which may not be in accordance with their values, and other people have a right to their own values as well,” he said.

The march attendee said he is also concerned about the physical harm that is being done to kids.

“Canada is known as a very aggressive nation in terms of the whole transgender movements, and kids are being fast-tracked into things that are permanently affecting them,” Blaney said. 

“And there’s no backing up. And so they end up in this place where they are compromised, sexually, reproductively, physically. And some have regretted that they did that.”

Trans Alliance Friends, Family & Youth Society (TAFFY)’s president, Paige Turrtel, said she couldn’t get onto a waitlist for surgery until she had been on hormone therapy for two years.

In order to get onto the waitlist, she had to undergo three interviews with different professionals, and it took two further referrals to get to that interview stage.

“It took six months of meetings with psychologists and my gender doctor, going into some very deep topics and personal history, before I got the green light for hormone therapy,” Turrtel said.

According to the McLean Clinic, a private practice in Ontario, there are several steps before gender-reaffirming surgery can take place. 

The steps include the surgery readiness assessment, the recommendation process and funding approval on top of wait times for the surgery.

The University of British Columbia’s study on transgender patients’ experiences revealed that the process can take up to nine years.

Attendees of the 1 Million March 4 Children gathered outside City Hall around 9 a.m. before marching towards Centennial Park at 11 a.m.

Around the same time, TAFFY held a “peaceful presence” and information session at Centennial Park in response to the march.

The group decided not to call their event a counter-protest as they weren’t looking to start conflict, they just wanted to peacefully answer any questions residents had.

Turrtel said when the two groups were in the same vicinity, the area stayed peaceful, and only a few people came to speak with them.

“Definitely [had] a couple of hateful people, most of them just closed-minded. [They] came here to say what they had to say but didn’t want to listen,” Turrtel said.

TAFFY was founded last summer and began a youth group earlier this year.

TAFFY’s president said in the short time they’ve been around, they have had situations where they were called to the hospital to be with people in crisis because they didn’t have anywhere else to turn.

Part of TAFFY’s concern with the protest is the bullying occurring in local schools.

“There’s a lot of abuse. We’ve had parents that have talked to us about their children having hard times to the point where their children have chosen distance education,” Turrtel said.

She said she has heard kids as young as nine and ten repeating what their parents tell them, “drilling it into their young children’s heads already to start spreading that sort of hate.”

Turrtel said there needs to be an open dialogue between the two sides of the SOGI debate without fighting, placing blame or hurting one another.

“It’s about having a frank, honest and adult discussion about the well-being of children,” Turrtel explained.

“We need to be able to come to an agreement and an understanding that children have a right to be themselves and to be heard and to feel safe.”

Part of the misinformation she thinks is being spread is teachers and others in school systems pushing children to come out as trans.

“It’s not a choice. You’re born as trans, and it’s about when you feel comfortable enough or have enough introspection to be able to see it in yourself and to embrace that,” Turrtel said.

Another concern TAFFY’s president has is why children in the community aren’t going to their parents to talk to them about what’s happening at school or in their personal lives.

“One of the big things I know about dealing with children is they are not scared of a parental figure or communicating for no reason,” Turrtel said.

“You have to start to look inward and say, ‘Maybe I could be more open with them. I could create a safe environment where they feel comfortable enough to talk to me.’”

Another piece of misinformation she says she has heard is regarding children going through hormone therapy and saying it is being pushed on children. She said youth being put on “hormones” aren’t hormones, it’s hormone blockers, which she called a pause button.

“Youth can then take time to learn more about themselves until they come to a point where they say, ‘Hey, I know I’m trans’ or ‘I know I’m not,’” Turrtel explained.

TAFFY’s president said if hormone blockers are given at the right age, the child taking them can have a life without dealing with developments to one side or the other.

“So when they come to that realization, ‘I know I’m a girl, I don’t have a deep voice, I don’t have larger feet, I don’t have broad shoulders, I don’t have an Adam’s apple, I can go through my life without getting clocked,’” Turrtel said.

“Clocking” is when someone can see someone else is trans, she said, and the opposite term is “passing,” which is when no one or very few people can tell.

“Passing should never be a goal, and it doesn’t matter if someone does pass, they’re still valid and should have their pronouns and name respected,” Turrtel said.

“The problem is that when trans people get clocked, that’s when misgendering and abusive language can happen very quickly.”

For more information and support locally, TAFFY can be contacted and found on Facebook, Instagram or by email at taffyfsj@gmail.com.

The evening before the march, The North Peace Pride Society released a statement supporting Taffy’s information session and condemning the march.

The City of Fort St. John also released a statement mentioning “gatherings” in a Facebook post but did not mention SOGI or the LGBTQ community directly.

Comments on the post from the city were divided, with one commenter stating, “If you were committed to celebrating diversity, you wouldn’t be tolerating this kind of bigotry right on your doorstep.”

Another read, “Basically City of Fort St. John is saying We don’t give a crap about your views Cuz they are not progressive . That’s what this statement means.”

British Columbia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govender, released a statement on Tuesday saying  peaceful demonstration protects democracy and generates debate, but the human rights of the trans and LGBTQ community “is not up for debate.”

An inquiry by her office showed nearly two-thirds of LGBTQIA2S students don’t feel safe at school, while 11 per cent of heterosexual students feel unsafe at school.

She said those who want to protect their children by removing school-based supports for gay, bisexual, trans and other students are misinformed.

“As a parent, I plead with those who may think they are protecting their children: Erasing LGBTQ2SAI+ people from our curriculum will not change your child’s identity, but it will make schools, and the LGBTQ2SAI+ people in them, less safe,” Govender said in a statement.

With files from the Canadian Press.