Smith says UCP will introduce legislation on gender policies for youth this month

New legislation concerning gender policies for youth is only weeks away from being introduced in Alberta, according to the premier.

In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, Danielle Smith says the UCP government will introduce the bill in “less than a month” and also had some strong words for those who oppose it.

“Adults who choose to tell children and youth that these policies were designed to hurt them, or marginalize them, that kind of rhetoric is irresponsible and harmful to the young people involved,” she said in the video. “It is entirely false.”

The UCP government has long intended to bring forward the legislation for a suite of policies that include restricting transgender youth access to gender-affirming health care, banning transgender participation in female sports, and requiring parental consent or notification on sex education and changes to pronouns and names in schools.

Egale Canada is countering Smith with a peer-reviewed study published in Nature Magazine. The study found that anti-transgender legislation across the U.S. led to increased suicide attempts among young transgender and non-binary people.

“When you’re telling young people they are not going to have access to gender-affirming care, they are not going to have access to an open and inclusive education, and when they’re not allowed to self-identify…this causes irreparable harm,” says Egale spokesperson Helen Kennedy.

Kennedy says Alberta’s proposed changes are not based on the latest research.

The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) is not only concerned about the impact on youth, but the lack of detail surrounding the changes.

“People who are sitting in government are not having those conversations with people who are working in schools,” says ATA President Jason Schilling. “I find that highly problematic.”

Egale and Skipping Stone Foundation, another LGBTQ+ advocacy group, have threatened legal action if Alberta moves ahead with the proposed changes.