Last week, Alberta passed Canada’s first gender-affirming care ban, ignoring the medical consensus, evidence, and the trans youth and their families who begged them not to do this.
The surgery component of the under 18 gender-affirming care ban is now in effect. The ban and restrictions on puberty blockers and hormones are expected to come into effect this winter. This will ban all gender-affirming care for trans youth aged 15 and under and restrict access for trans youth aged 16-17.
Once in effect, this law will force trans youth aged 15 and under through what may be a deeply unwanted and undesirable puberty, while the medication that they are legally banned from accessing remains available to cis youth experiencing precocious puberty.
Alberta passed two more anti-trans laws, that are expected to be implemented next fall. These laws will:
- ban trans women and girls from competing in sports
- make sexual health education more difficult to access
- require parental consent for trans children and youth aged 15 and under to informally change their name and pronouns at school
- mandate the forced outing of all trans youth aged 17 and under who ask to use a different name and pronoun at school
It is difficult to summarize the breadth of these three anti-trans laws into a single statement, because they attack so many of the areas of support that are fundamental to the safety and well-being of trans youth.
For youth with supportive parents, they are denied medical care while being banned from playing sports with their friends. If youth in unsupportive homes seek support at school, they risk being forcibly outed at home, increasing their risk of homelessness, violence, and mental health issues.
These anti-trans laws infringe on the rights and autonomy of trans children, youth, and adults, as well as their parents, their teachers, and their doctors.
We are alarmed at the escalation of anti-trans policies and laws across Canada.
What started as an anti-trans educational policy change targeting trans youth in New Brunswick, escalated to a similar anti-trans law passed with the notwithstanding clause in Saskatchewan.
Add to this now, three anti-trans laws in Alberta, including a gender-affirming care ban for youth and a law banning participation in competitive sports that also targets trans adults.
We condemn these laws.
These laws will harm trans youth. Governments who pass anti-trans laws know this.
These laws will harm cis youth. They will prevent them from accessing sexual health education, give license to scrutinize and surveil their bodies if they do not appear stereotypically feminine enough on the sports field, and make their medications harder to access when those medications are banned for some youth but not others. Governments who pass anti-trans laws know this.
These laws are solely about preventing young people from being trans, at the expense of both trans and cis youth. All youth deserve to be safe at school, while playing sports, and while accessing healthcare. Passing laws to restrict the rights of one group sets a scary precedent for the rights of everyone.
In the face of these blatant attempts to erase trans youth, we remain inspired by trans youth, their families, their doctors, their teachers, and their sports teams who continually speak out and fight back against these types of policies and laws.
Trans youth existed long before anti-trans laws, and they will exist long after them. As trans people, and healthcare providers who work with trans people, we remain fully committed to increasing gender-affirming care access and supporting trans, non-binary, and gender diverse youth.
For detailed information on the three anti-trans laws and the legal challenge to fight them, check out Egale’s Alberta explainer: https://egale.ca/awareness/alberta/
For stories on the impact of anti-trans laws on youth and their families, check out these interviews:
- Young and Trans in Canada – https://xtramagazine.com/health/trans-health/trans-youth-families-canada-profile-266261
- Things ‘more intense’ since Alberta policies dropped, says mom of trans kid – https://xtramagazine.com/health/trans-health/parents-of-trans-kids-alberta-policy-268996
- In Alberta, Queer Families Are ‘Not OK’ – https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/12/02/Alberta-Queer-Families-Not-OK/
- ‘I belong here’: A decade of trans rights in Saskatchewan – https://thestarphoenix.com/feature/i-belong-here-a-decade-of-trans-rights-in-saskatchewan
To donate to the legal defence fund for Alberta: https://www.skippingstone.ca/legalfund
For updates and future action items to fight anti-trans laws in Alberta:
- Trans Action Alberta – https://transactionalberta.ca/
- Momentum – https://www.momentumcanada.net/alberta
-Hamilton Trans Health Coalition-