Post Millennial, February 10, 2018
BY JOHN CARPAY

Barry Neufeld dares to say out loud what millions of Canadians are thinking privately but are too afraid to express publicly.

An elected school trustee on the Chilliwack Board of Education, Mr. Neufeld has questioned the value and merit of the new “sexual orientation and gender identity” (SOGI) additions to the BC school curriculum.  “SOGI 123” aggressively promotes a perspective on sexuality that could be described as progressive, post-modernist, liberal, secular or libertine.  It recommends books like “Heather Has Two Mommies” and “My Princess Boy” to children as young as five.  One can agree or disagree with SOGI 123, but there is no doubt that its ideology is entirely hostile to what many Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and non-religious parents are teaching their own children about sexuality and marriage.

Mr. Neufeld takes issue with “the teaching of the theory, as if it was fact, that gender is fluid, that there are more than two genders, and that gender is not based in biology.”  Mild language when compared to prominent feminist Germaine Greer, who says: “just because you lop off your penis… it doesn’t make you a woman.”

Dr. James Cantor, director of the Toronto Sexuality Centre and author of the blog Sexology Today, compiled results from a dozen medical studies showing that the majority of kids stop feeling transgendered past puberty.  The tendency for gender dysphoria to resolve itself as a child gets older is known as “desistance.”

Many regard the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender reassignment as child abuse.  Licensed clinical social worker Lisa Marchiano notes that medical transition damages the body, compromises fertility, and can lead to lifelong dependence on synthetic hormones.  One of the most popular puberty blocking drugs, Lupron, has been linked to brittle bones, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and seizures.

Over the course of decades, Drs. Susan Bradley and Ken Zucker successfully treated hundreds of children and adolescents who suffered from gender identity disorder.  But political pressure shut down Toronto’s Child Youth and Family Gender Identity Clinic in 2015.

While it should not matter, it is worth stating that the Cantors, Marchianos, Bradleys and Zuckers of the world are not known for their Christian or other religious convictions.  They are secular scientists.

But science be damned when it interferes with ideology.  The “trans” movement is all the rage these days, and hurls insults at anyone who disagrees: “bigots, bullies, homophobes, transphobes, haters, Nazis,” etc.  How ironic that the outpouring of vicious name-calling is done by those who claim to oppose bullying.

For objecting to SOGI 123, Mr. Neufeld has been called on by the majority of his colleagues on the school board to resign.  Without having previously consulted its local members, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (Local 411) filed a human rights complaint against Mr. Neufeld.  BC Education Minister Rob Fleming has also called on Mr. Neufeld to resign, simply for having expressed his cogent and reasoned criticism of SOGI 123.

Mr. Neufeld’s ancestors fled from Russia to Canada in the 1870s, when the Russian educational authorities began to implement ideas from the French Revolution that children were property of the state and must be indoctrinated with state ideology.

True to his heritage, and despite the pressure to resign, Mr. Neufeld states: “I believe that I must remain on the Board to be a lonely voice protecting impressionable children who I believe will be confused and harmed, resulting in the recent phenomenon of increased occurrences of rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) in at-risk children.  It is my duty as an elected School Board official to speak up when the best interests of children may be compromised. I will continue to do my duty as Trustee in this regard, while exercising my constitutional freedom of expression as a Canadian.”

Even if Mr. Neufeld is dead wrong in opposing SOGI 123, concern for the well-being of children should motivate all parents and all politicians to have honest discussion and frank debate about the merit (or lack thereof) of this program.  If SOGI 123 is based on science, and if it actually benefits children, its supporters should not fear tough questions and blunt criticism.  If SOGI 123 is all about stopping or reducing bullying, then the Chilliwack school trustees and BC’s Education Minister should be willing to debate the merits of telling very young children that there are many genders.  Instead, they seek to bully and intimidate Mr. Neufeld into resigning. This is an abuse of authority.  This bullying approach harms children, by preventing the open dialogue necessary to ensure that the public is well-informed of the risks brought by transgender ideology.

Lawyer John Carpay is president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (jccfold.wpenginepowered.com