#Policy 713

[thesuburbanerd]

“Child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock says changes to a gender-identity policy for the New Brunswick school system violate the provincial Human Rights Act, the Education Act and children's charter rights.

“In June, Education Minister Bill Hogan said he changed Policy 713 on sexual orientation and gender identity to make it mandatory to deny a request from a child under 16 to use a specific name or pronoun unless parents consent.”

Tagging @allthecanadianpolitics

[ugw-dead]

Why are you, as a "save our children" adult, bringing your KIDS to a protest to denounce their own rights? You're letting your KIDS scream hate, and literally spit at people. Your children just advocated for genocide against trans fellow youth, and said we should just go to war if we're so upset. Your fucking KIDS are saying this because YOU taught them to. You're accusing US of being the groomers, yet you force your kids to protest things they don't even understand? When we chant that "Children Have Rights" and your KIDS are screaming back "No We Don't" because that's what YOU'VE taught them? Disgusting display.

[ns-sprite-editz]

A few New Brunswick silhouettes. Solidarity to you from the other side of the country.

These are free to use, no need to credit.

[talisidekick]

[Start ID: Article from Canadian news website CBC.com titled: "Saint John students protest review of N.B. (New Brunswick) policy that affirms LGBTQ rights in schools"

End ID]

In short, some teachers and parents complained about Policy 713 which aims to create a safe, welcoming, inclusive and affirming school environment for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

In response the government of N.B. said they'd review the policy that was laid out in 2020. Worrying that this review would end in the government repealing Policy 713, students aimed to set up a protest regarding the review of the policy. The expectation of the students planning the protest was no more than 50 people would show. 350+ attended the protest on May 15th, 2023 waving signs and pride flags.

Thought we were done? This protest followed in the wake of a protest in Fredericton N.B. in front of the legislature building. The turnout wasmuch larger. More on that below:

Look. I know we're getting hit hard everywhere. Even in Canada we're getting people rallied onto the hate-train against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. They're posting signs of propaganda against us over overpasses, buying billboards to spread missinformation, and rallying outside libraries to protest drag story hour to make it unsafe for kids and families to attend. But lets remember to celebrate when our allies stand up and stand with us.

When our enemies bring hate, we bring a celebration to drown them out. They yell, we roar louder. Spread love, not hate. None of us are free until all of us are.

[iplaywithstring]

Its encouraging to see so many people and groups speaking up about this.

N.B. Women’s Council says Policy 713 review echoes ‘organized backlash’ against 2SLGBTQIA+ community

The New Brunswick Women’s Council says the provincial government’s review of Policy 713 is using talking points from a larger “organized backlash” against 2SLGBTQIA+ people.

In a statement Friday, the New Brunswick Women’s Council called on the Higgs government to end its review of Policy 713, which mandates minimum standards and requirements within the New Brunswick school system for all sexual orientations and gender identities.

“A lot of theses issues have been addressed by subject matter experts using evidence-based research,” says Beth Lyons, executive director of the New Brunswick Women’s Council, in an interview Friday.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development says the review of Policy 713 includes the provision for students under 16 to change their preferred first name and pronoun without parents knowing, the process for team sport selection and participation, and access to washroom facilities on the basis of gender identity.

Lyons says the Higgs government is ignoring data on the subject, as rhetoric and violence against the transgender community rises.

“We also have a government which is echoing the questions of that movement,” says Lyons. “I’m not saying they’re aligned with that movement. I’m saying that the movement is strategic.”

A brief from the council says New Brunswick is “in the midst of a backlash against 2SLGBTQIA+ people and communities,” referencing protests at drag queen story time events and a recent review of material at public libraries.

“We can not ignore the broader context of what is happening with the anti-queer and trans backlash,” says Lyons.

Similar statements of concern about the Policy 713 review have been issued by the New Brunswick Child and Youth Advocate and the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/Gd8nhwK

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

While elections have certainly been heating up in the United States over transgender issues, candidates desiring an early look into how such issues might fare may look no further than Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick. The candidate, who has served as premier of New Brunswick for the last six years, saw his party lose in a crushing defeat to the Liberals. The premier lost his own race as well. The candidate made waves as the first premier to implement anti-trans policies in schools, stating at the time that he would not back down, reportedly calling the idea ���an election winner”. Blaine Higgs, in an interview with the Canadian Press, defended his record as the first Canadian premier to unilaterally implement anti-trans policies in schools, stating that he “would not change anything” and calling the idea an election winner. His revisions to what is collectively known as Policy 713 required that transgender youth under the age of 16 be forcibly outed to their parents. The policy also mandated that teachers misgender and deadname trans students if they did not have parental consent or were not out to their parents.

At the time, Helen Kennedy, executive director of the LGBTQ+ organization Egale Canada, said, "I think other provinces are obviously watching very closely to see what the potential fallout will be." On Tuesday, it became clear that the Progressive Conservative party, the right-leaning party in the province, faced a decisive defeat. In 2020, the party won 27 seats compared to the Liberals' 17, but this year, the Liberals secured 31 seats to the PCs' 16. Not only did Blaine Higgs' party lose power, but the premier also lost his own “safe” seat in Quispamsis, the most conservative district in 2020.

Higgs will be replaced as premier by Susan Holt, who will become the first woman to lead New Brunswick. Holt has indicated she will reverse Higgs' anti-trans forced outing policies in schools. Earlier this year, she participated in protests supporting transgender students, posting on her Twitter account, "Great to join the crowd today at the rally in support of trans youth. I was honoured to share our support for the protection of trans people in our province & country." Advocates for transgender people celebrated in New Brunswick and across Canada following Higgs's loss. Fae Johnstone, Canadian organizer and spokesperson for Queer Momentum, blamed his loss on his anti-trans policies, stating, “That single decision marked the beginning of the end. It sparked a revolt in his own caucus divided his party and mobilized parents, queer people, teachers and workers across the province against him.”

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs (PC) found out the hard way that attacking trans people is an election loser, as his party lost in this week’s provincial parliamentary elections.

[fazmid]

"require parental consent for children under 16 to have a different name or different pronouns used at school" oh you mean forcing trans kids to out themselves to their parents in the hope of maybe getting some comfort and respect at school. and you mean forcing teachers to misgender and deadname kids whose parents won't sign off on their trans kid being respected. I'm lighting higgs on fire with my mind

[city-of-ladies]

Genmei (661-721) was Japan's fourth empress regnant. She was Empress Jitō's half-sister and her match in terms of ambition and political skills. Her rule was characterized by a development of culture and innovations. 

Ruling after her son

Like Jitō (645-703), Genmei was the daughter of Emperor Tenji but was born from a different mother. Jitō was both her half-sister and mother-in-law since Genmei had married the empress’ son, Prince Kusakabe (662-689). She had a son with him, Emperor Monmu (683-707). 

Kusakabe died early and never reigned, which led to Jitō's enthronement. The empress was then succeeded by her grandson Monmu. The latter’s reign was short. In his last will, he called for his mother to succeed him in accordance with the “immutable law” of her father Tenji. Genmei accepted. 

Steadfast and ambitious 

Genmei was made from the same mold as her half-sister. She proved to be a fearless sovereign, undeterred by military crises. 

She pursued Jitō's policies, strengthening the central administration and keeping the power in imperial hands. Among her decisions were the proscription of runaway peasants and the restriction of private ownership of mountain and field properties by the nobility and Buddhist temples. 

Another of her achievements was transferring the capital at Heijō-kyō (Nara) in 710, turning it into an unprecedented cultural and political center. Her rule saw many innovations. Among them were the first attempt to replace the barter system with the Wadō copper coins, new techniques for making brocade twills and dyeing and the settlement of experimental dairy farmers.

A protector of culture

Genmei sponsored many cultural projects. The first was the Kojiki, written in 712 it told Japan’s history from mythological origins to the current rulers. In its preface, the editor Ō no Yasumaro praised the empress:

“Her Imperial Majesty…illumines the univers…Ruling in the Purple Pavillion, her virtue extends to the limit of the horses’ hoof-prints…It must be saif that her fame is greater than that of Emperor Yü and her virtue surpasses that of Emperor Tang (legendary emperors of China)”.

In 713, she ordered the local governments to collect local legends and oral traditions as well as information about the soil, weather, products and geological and zoological features. Those local gazetteers (Fudoki) were an invaluable source of Japan’s ancient tradition.

Several of Genmei’s poems are included in the Man'yōshū anthology, including a reply by one of the court ladies. 

Listen to the sounds of the warriors' elbow-guards;

Our captain must be ranging the shields to drill the troops.

– Genmei Tennō

Reply:

Be not concerned, O my Sovereign;

Am I not here,

I, whom the ancestral gods endowed with life,

Next of kin to yourself

– Minabe-hime

From mother to daughter 

Genmei abdicated in 715 and passed the throne to her daughter, empress Genshō (680-748) instead of her sickly grandson prince Obito. This was an unprecedented situation, making the Nara period the pinnacle of female monarchy in Japan. 

Genmei would oversee state affairs until she died in 721. Before her death, she shaved her head and became a nun, becoming the first Japanese monarch to take Buddhist vows and establishing a long tradition.

Feel free to check out my Ko-Fi if you like what I do! Your support would be greatly appreciated.

Further reading

Shillony Ben-Ami, Enigma of the Emperors Sacred Subservience in Japanese History

Tsurumi Patricia E., “Japan’s early female emperors”

Aoki Michiko Y., "Jitō Tennō, the female sovereign",in: Mulhern Chieko Irie (ed.), Heroic with grace legendary women of Japan

[aprik0se]

“Medicine is a hierarchical field, and one that clings to a sense of masculinity, whether appropriate or not. […] It sees itself as manly, offering heroic cures. But a great deal of what medicine offers patients is care—incremental, accommodating, feminine (if you stick with the outmoded metaphor). Yet medicine is too embarrassed to admit this. Care seems soft and unscientific; we’d prefer to hand out swashbuckling cure.” - Dementia Reimagined, Tia Powell, M.D. 2019

"Dementia emerged as a major public issue in the late 1970s through the efforts of a coalition of caregivers and family members struggling to deal with dementia in the context of new expectations for aging, researchers in the neurosciences influenced by the biological revolution in psychiatry, and government officials trying to win funding for research on aging and age-associated conditions. Central to the coalition’s strategy was advancing the claim that age-associated dementia should be viewed as the result of disease rather than aging, as part of a more general claim advanced within gerontology and geriatrics that aging itself should not normally be accompanied by disease and disability [5]. [...] Calling the unified category “Alzheimer’s” framed it as a specific disease entity with a well-established pathological basis in the brain. Campaigns organized around this reframing of dementia were highly successful. By 1980, Alzheimer’s had become a household word and the object of a massive federally funded research initiative [5]. But there were unintended consequences that undermined two other stated goals of Alzheimer’s advocates—increasing support for caregivers and lessening the stigma of dementia [5]. To make a compelling case for funding biomedical research aimed at treatment and prevention, advocates always implicitly and sometimes explicitly trafficked in what critics called “apocalyptic demography” [15], arguing that finding an effective treatment or cure was the only way to avoid an avalanche of dementia cases associated with the aging of the baby boomer generation that would overwhelm the health care system [16]. Public policy in the United States largely followed this logic, with the result that while money for biomedical research dramatically increased, relatively little was invested in providing specific supports for caregivers or developing creative approaches to improving the quality of care for people with dementia [5]. Similarly, in order to make the case that Alzheimer’s causes great suffering, advocates represented the losses associated with dementia as so total and irrevocable as to call into question whether people suffering from it could still properly be regarded as people at all, thus greatly deepening the stigmatization of those diagnosed with it and intensifying the anxiety people felt about aging itself [16]." AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(7):713-719. Emphasis mine.

[fixomnia-scribble]

I am not a sweary person, as you know but:

SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK.

Provincial Conservatives on opposite sides of the country making jaw-dropping headlines during National Truth & Reconciliation Day.

"Sherry Wilson said the federal system of forcing tens of thousands of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children into the schools was "only allowed to happen because children enrolled in school were isolated from their parents' oversight, input and influence."

She implied there was a parallel between that and the province's original Policy 713 — which allowed 2SLGBTQ+ students to adopt names and pronouns at school without their parents knowing."

And this:

"[Conservative candidate] Rustad said if his party wins the Oct. 19 provincial election, B.C. would partner with First Nations and "unleash the potential" for prosperity through mining, forestry and other resource projects.

He has previously pledged to repeal B.C. legislation adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Instead, his party said in a release, it would honour the declaration "as it was intended," with laws advancing economic reconciliation and Indigenous autonomy."

[ns-sprite-editz]

And a second set.

These are free to use, no need to credit.

[thesuburbanerd]

“The policy, which was introduced in 2020, lays out minimum requirements for school districts to create a safe, welcoming learning environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and two-spirited students.”

The government says it’s “reviewing” the policy after claiming to have received “hundreds of complaints” from parents and teachers.

From what I’ve read elsewhere it seems some of the objections stem from the a perception that kids will somehow be able to transition without their parents’ knowledge. What actually happens is they can choose new pronouns and names to use at school without notifying their parents.

All of which seems sensible to me but I think people opposed to it have been taken in by unfounded, dangerous theories about 2SLGBTQIA people and are taking their instruction from certain US states.

Tagging @allthecanadianpolitics

[iplaywithstring]

Very proud of this school district

@allthecanadianpolitics

[catpcgames]

I just wanted to say this while I'm thinking about it that as a Canadian trans person, I'm tired of seeing americans act like everything is okay up here, while yes y'all have it worse down there, I hate it when I see people talk about how it's better here.

In New Brunswick we had the Policy 713 changes that basically snowballed everything here in Canada. Which made it so that students in school can't be called by their preferred name and pronouns in school without parental consent if they're under 16.

Then Saskatchewan followed suit doing basically the same thing in the form of Bill 137.

Then most recently in Alberta we had Premier Danielle Smith saying she was going to make it so that:

Trans students under 16 need parental consent in order to go by their preferred name and pronouns

Students who are 16 or 17 will still be outed to their parents if they want to go by their preferred name and pronouns

Ban gender affirming surgery for anyone under 18 (which was for the record, already the case just not written into law)

Ban HRT for anyone under 16 (but specifically only if the person is trans)

Require parental consent for their children to be taught about LGBTQ+ topics in school

Lastly, implement restrictions on trans women participating in women's sports (saying it was for "safety reasons")

Most of the above was done under the guise of "parental rights" when parents don't have rights in regards to their children, they have a responsibility to take care of their children.

Parents are given power over their children because then (at least in theory) they can use that power to help the child learn and grow and keep the child safe, not abuse that power to control the child.

Circling back to what I said at the beginning, I'm sick of people acting like everything is fine up here, or that the US is the only country with threats to trans rights at the moment, given how important the US is in global politics, other countries are bound to copy them, and while yes things are very bad there, they aren't the only country with issues.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick is maintaining the central elements of its policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools despite a report saying the policy violates the Charter rights of children.

Education Minister Bill Hogan told reporters Wednesday his government tweaked Policy 713 to give it clarity, following last week's critical report by the child and youth advocate.

But the main thrust of the policy stays the same: students under 16 who are questioning their gender identity must get their parents' consent before teachers can use their preferred first names or pronouns at school.

"Otherwise, what we're saying is that we're keeping information from parents and that's not the role of the school," Hogan said Wednesday.

The province made changes to the Policy713in June, one of which requires children under 16 to have parental consent before they can officially change their preferred first names or pronouns at school. The changes sparked widespread criticism, including from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada