The subject of SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) education has become an issue in the B.C. election.
asserted
subject → become → election
B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson has stated that if his party forms government, repealing SOGI will be a top priority.
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repealing → state → SOGI
“I firmly believe that we have to repeal SOGI,” he said.
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he → believe → SOGI
The usual defence of SOGI is that it’s simply an “anti-bullying” curriculum, and that is indeed how it’s framed in informational pamphlets distributed to parents.
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it → ’ → parents
But any review of B.C.’s official SOGI course materials shows that it goes way beyond merely telling students not to bully gay kids.
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it → show → kids
Below, a cursory guide to what SOGI actually asks teachers to do in B.C. schools.
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SOGI → ask → schools
Instruct students as soon as possible that the “rigid gender binary” is false
You won’t find the word “man” mentioned a single time on the website for SOGI 123.
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word → instruct → SOGI
And the word “woman” is mentioned just once, in a 2024 guide to SOGI-inclusive books, which mentions that the protagonist in a lesbian romance is a “young woman.”
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protagonist → mention → romance
A central theme in all SOGI 123 materials is that sex is something that’s “assigned at birth,” that gender is “fluid” and that someone’s status as a man, woman or other is ultimately a self-declared identity unbounded by biology.
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status → assign → biology
A 60-minute lesson entitled Gender Identity and Pronouns is intended to instruct students right from kindergarten that requesting someone’s pronouns is the only socially acceptable way to infer their gender identity.
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requesting → entitle → identity
By lesson’s end, teachers are told, “students will appreciate the gender spectrum, fluidity, and the use of gender pronouns,” and understand that gender is not held to “a rigid gender binary or with the gender they were assigned at birth.”
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they → tell → birth
The lesson concludes with students being handed cards carrying a name and pronouns such as “my name is Aron, please call me they.”
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name → conclude → me
“Instruct students to walk around and introduce themselves (based on their assigned cards),” reads the teacher instructions.
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instructions → instruct → cards
Have kindergartners pick apart fairy tales for “sexism” and normalization of the “gender binary”
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kindergartners → have → binary
The unit plan Fairy Tales and Gender Roles is intended for children from kindergarten to Grade 3.
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plan → intend → Grade
The lesson plan has children reading through fairy tales such as Cinderella and Rapunzel, and being prompted to identify which parts of the story are “sexist” or otherwise supportive of the “gender binary.”
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parts → have → binary
“Students call out ‘Stop!’ when they want you to cease reading.
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you → call → ?
They must then identify the sexist incident before you can proceed with the story,” it reads.
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it → identify → story
The lesson plan then calls for teachers to read through King and King, a book about a gay-married monarch, and “debrief student reactions to the book.”
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teachers → call → book
Tell children that changing sex is akin to a new hairstyle
It surrounds the children’s book Teddy, A Gentle Story, about a male teddy bear who transitions to a female teddy bear.
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who → tell → bear
The book’s protagonist is Errol, a “good friend” who affirms the teddy bear’s gender transition.
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who → affirm → transition
The lesson plan instructs teachers to frame gender transitions as a change no different than a new hairstyle or a sunburn.
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plan → instruct → hairstyle
“I talked about how sometimes they might see me and one day I might have a full beard.
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I → talk → beard
On other days, I would have no beard,” wrote the lesson’s author, adding “regardless of physical appearance, I am still the same person.”
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I → have → appearance
The lesson plan then stresses that the way to be a “good friend” is to accept “non-binary understandings of gender” and affirm it in others.
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way → stress → others
“When someone shares their name, it is respectful for us to use the name they ask us to use,” it states.
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it → share → us
Correct elementary schoolers whenever they identify an adult as a man or a woman
SOGI 123 materials are consistent in their view that there is no minimum age for discussions about gender or sexual identity.
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materials → correct → gender
“Some students enter our Kindergarten classes already asserting their gender identity.
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students → enter → identity
Some students have some awareness of their own same-sex attraction,” reads the article, written by elementary schoolteacher Bryan Gidinski.
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article → have → Gidinski
The article also stresses that children should be told from an early age that it is wrong to assume the gender of peers or even authority figures.
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it → stress → peers
If a child asks if someone is a boy or a girl, the appropriate response is to tell them “I’m not sure.
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I → ask → them
Does it matter?” or “why are you asking that?”
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you → matter → that
Facilitate children adopting new sexual identities, and conceal the information from parents
This policy has been the most controversial flashpoint of SOGI curricula across Canada, and is already banned in Alberta.
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policy → facilitate → Alberta
In 2024, the government of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith required school authorities to “notify parents where a student requests that teachers, principals and other school staff refer to them by a new preferred name or pronouns.
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teachers → require → name
But the standing policy of the B.C. Ministry of Education is that if a child of any age states that they want to adopt a new gender identity, the only appropriate response is to “affirm” the decision and mandate that students and school staff do so as well.
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students → state → decision
What’s more, the details of this affirmation may be concealed from the child’s parents if it is determined this is something they might find objectionable.
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they → ’ → parents
There’s an entire SOGI 123 unit on how to handle this process entitled Hello, My Name is Changing.
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Name → ’ → process
School staff are to record the child’s new name and develop a strategy that will both alert other staff members to the social transition while potentially concealing it from family.
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that → record → family
“Make note of who will see what, including parents, teachers, other students, and administrative staff,” it reads.
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it → make → parents
The example provided is an official Name Change Planning Tool printed by the Abbotsford School District.
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example → provide → District
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
