Acceptance and understanding. We should learn these things, and live by them, every day.
In the previous issue of the News Bulletin, we published a feature story on gender-neutral washrooms in Nanaimo schools and found that our school district is among the most proactive on the initiative. There is now a gender-neutral washroom in every learning facility in the city.
Washrooms are just one visible example of the challenges faced by transgendered people. Most of us could not begin to imagine all that comes along with the transition of bodies, psyches, families and whole lives. But we can strive to understand, and should. Transitioning is becoming normalized – not the right word, perhaps, because who among us is normal?
There are some who would prefer that schools be blind to those who are different. For example, amidst the protest in Ontario last year over sex-ed changes was concern about sexual orientation and gender identity discussion in the curriculum. But let’s keep in mind that schools start teaching respect for others at the kindergarten level.
And if children are learning those ideals, then they can also demand those human rights for themselves, to be who they are, without limitations and prejudices. In many ways, youths are leading society’s understanding of transgender identity as they refuse to compromise their true selves. We have a chance, moving forward, to allow them to be who they want to be. As a society we need to not only say it’s OK to be different, but we must also truly believe that it’s OK.
Transgendered people undergo the greatest of challenges when they change into who they are, who they’ve always been. Compared to that, it seems like a relatively small thing to change our minds, and accept and understand.
