Keywords:
policy, trans, transgender, ostracized, Family Life, Catholic School, gendered language, safety, protection, gender identity, gender expression, gendered classroom
policy, trans, transgender, ostracized, Family Life, Catholic School, gendered language, safety, protection, gender identity, gender expression, gendered classroom
Transcript
Tara: The next step for you, then, is to continue working to change the policy.
Melissa: Mhmm. Absolutely. We have no choice. It’s for her wellbeing. She can’t go to high school now and be identified as male and use a male washroom. There’s no way. That’s not acceptable. We’ll fight as hard as we can and if it doesn’t work by the time we get there we’ll have to pull her from school or switch schools. Like, I’m not going to see her ostracized at school either.
Tara: No.
Melissa: We pull her from ‘family life’ as it is now at the Catholic school because it’s ‘he’, ‘she’ and—
Tara: It’s not safe.
Melissa: No, no.
Kate: What’s family life? Sorry, I didn’t hear that.
Melissa: It’s, it’s—
Warner: Family life is, like, where they tell you...
Melissa: sexual health.
Kate: Oh.
Melissa: That’s what they call in Catholic, yeah, our school board. Yeah, it’s all that stuff and--
Warner: Well that’s normally where the ‘god’s image’, ‘male’ and ‘female’ come up.
Melissa: and they really hammer that home, right?
Tara: Right.
Melissa: The image of god, male and female. So and, and I don’t know if you’ve heard a lot lately the pope and the Vatican have made a lot of statements about gender identity and things like that. And new statements are coming out in the next week or two from the pope on this issue. And that affects us.
Tara: Yes.
Melissa: Because it affects our school. It affects our community. It affects everybody.
Warner: Yeah I remember, like, I remember this—I don’t know why I never think about it. But I remember this very detailed. Like not knowing where to go when they said male and female lines. Like you can just -- you don’t have to do two lines. You can just have one line.
Melissa: That’s a simple thing for teachers.
Tara: Yes.
Warner: The simplest thing. You don’t need to make a male and female line. You just need one line.
Melissa: Just avoid doing that division and you wipe away a big problem.
Warner: It’s like I don’t know why it would seem complex to some people.
Tara: [laughs]
Warner: All you have to do is make one line. That’s what -- that’s what my teachers do now.
Kate: Yeah.
Warner: Just one line. Like are you going to lead two lines of kids going to, like, one area?
Tara: What do you wish most for Warner in the next couple of years.
Melissa: I would wish that she didn’t have to be an activist, that she could just be a kid. Go to school, be who she is and without risk, without, you know, oppression, discrimination, anything. I don’t even care – like, to me it’s not she’s trans. She’s just a kid. And that’s all I want -- for her to be able to live her life as a kid and not have to worry about this stuff.
Tara: The next step for you, then, is to continue working to change the policy.
Melissa: Mhmm. Absolutely. We have no choice. It’s for her wellbeing. She can’t go to high school now and be identified as male and use a male washroom. There’s no way. That’s not acceptable. We’ll fight as hard as we can and if it doesn’t work by the time we get there we’ll have to pull her from school or switch schools. Like, I’m not going to see her ostracized at school either.
Tara: No.
Melissa: We pull her from ‘family life’ as it is now at the Catholic school because it’s ‘he’, ‘she’ and—
Tara: It’s not safe.
Melissa: No, no.
Kate: What’s family life? Sorry, I didn’t hear that.
Melissa: It’s, it’s—
Warner: Family life is, like, where they tell you...
Melissa: sexual health.
Kate: Oh.
Melissa: That’s what they call in Catholic, yeah, our school board. Yeah, it’s all that stuff and--
Warner: Well that’s normally where the ‘god’s image’, ‘male’ and ‘female’ come up.
Melissa: and they really hammer that home, right?
Tara: Right.
Melissa: The image of god, male and female. So and, and I don’t know if you’ve heard a lot lately the pope and the Vatican have made a lot of statements about gender identity and things like that. And new statements are coming out in the next week or two from the pope on this issue. And that affects us.
Tara: Yes.
Melissa: Because it affects our school. It affects our community. It affects everybody.
Warner: Yeah I remember, like, I remember this—I don’t know why I never think about it. But I remember this very detailed. Like not knowing where to go when they said male and female lines. Like you can just -- you don’t have to do two lines. You can just have one line.
Melissa: That’s a simple thing for teachers.
Tara: Yes.
Warner: The simplest thing. You don’t need to make a male and female line. You just need one line.
Melissa: Just avoid doing that division and you wipe away a big problem.
Warner: It’s like I don’t know why it would seem complex to some people.
Tara: [laughs]
Warner: All you have to do is make one line. That’s what -- that’s what my teachers do now.
Kate: Yeah.
Warner: Just one line. Like are you going to lead two lines of kids going to, like, one area?
Tara: What do you wish most for Warner in the next couple of years.
Melissa: I would wish that she didn’t have to be an activist, that she could just be a kid. Go to school, be who she is and without risk, without, you know, oppression, discrimination, anything. I don’t even care – like, to me it’s not she’s trans. She’s just a kid. And that’s all I want -- for her to be able to live her life as a kid and not have to worry about this stuff.