Possibilities for Trans-Affirming Policy Potential: A Case Study of a Canadian Catholic School

Background: Mainstream media is increasingly reporting on the relationships between Catholic and trans identities in parochial schools, particularly with regard to gendered washroom use. With greater numbers of trans youth coming out at younger ages, significant educational policy changes are being considered around how Catholic schools can or should include trans youth. Method: This study applies trans and queer theologies to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in investigating the Wilson case, which was the first known instance of a Catholic school including some affirming policy provisions for trans youth. The authors additionally collected and coded 12 news articles from a variety of platforms to discern and discuss the theological arguments in the public square against more fulsome trans student inclusion in Catholic schools. Results: The authors found two related theological arguments against full inclusion, namely the notion that (1) Gender is God-given and therefore cannot be chosen or changed, and (2) That transgressive bodies are not sacred parts of the divine gender plan. Conclusion: Trans theology allowed the authors to disrupt both of the theological claims advanced by the Catholic educators quoted in the Wilson case. This created rich, imaginative space in which to reconsider the relationships between Catholic and trans identities, namely by not arranging them in a binary. Significance for policy-making in parochial schools is discussed

Toby Goes to Catholic School: Gender Expression Human Rights, and Ontario Catholic School Board Policy

In this article, we share findings from an analysis of Ontario Catholic school board policy documents (N = 179) containing Canada’s newest human rights grounds: gender expression and gender identity. Our major finding may be unsurprising—that Ontario Catholic boards are generally not responding to Toby’s Act (passed in 2012) at the level of policy, as few boards have added these grounds in a way that enacts the spirit of that legislation. While this finding is likely unsurprising, our study also yielded findings that unsettle any facile binary of “Catholic boards/bad” and “public secular boards/good” in relation to gender diversity. We also leverage our findings to suggest a striking possibility for a vigorous and doctrinally-compatible embrace of gender expression protections in Catholic schools, if not gender identity protections. We argue that fear of gender expression protections may stem from an erroneous conflation of “gender expression” with “gender identity” when these are in fact separate grounds—a conflation that is also endemic within secular Ontario school board policy; this doubles as a conflation of gender expression with “transgender,” as the latter is unfailingly linked with gender identity human rights. We make a series of recommendations for policy, and a case for Catholic schools embracing their legal duty to provide a learning environment free from gender expression discrimination without doctrinal conflict and arguably with ample doctrinal support, so that students of all gender expressions can flourish regardless of whether they are or will come to know they are transgender.Dans cet article, nous partageons les résultats d’une analyse des documents de politiques des conseils scolaires catholiques de l’Ontario (n = 179) comprenant les plus récents fondements ayant trait aux droits de la personne du Canada : l’expression de genre et l’identité de genre. Notre principale conclusion n’est sûrement pas surprenante : les conseils scolaires catholiques de l’Ontario ne répondent généralement pas à la Loi Toby (adoptée en 2012) sur le plan de leurs politiques, puisque peu de conseils ont décidé d’ajouter ces fondements de façon à permettre que l’esprit de cette loi soit respecté. Bien que cette constatation ne soit pas vraiment surprenante, notre étude a également obtenu des résultats qui remettent en question la notion du binarisme rudimentaire « conseils catholiques, mauvais » et « conseils publics laïcs, bons » en ce qui a trait à la diversité des genres. Nos résultats permettent également d’entrevoir la possibilité prometteuse d’une adoption enthousiaste et doctrinalement compatible à la protection de l’expression de genre dans les écoles catholiques, voire à la protection de l’identité de genre. Nous soutenons que la réticence entourant la protection de l’expression du genre a peut-être pour fondement la confusion des termes « expression de genre » et « identité de genre », alors qu’il s’agit en fait de fondements distincts. Cette convergence est également endémique dans les politiques des conseils scolaires laïcs de l’Ontario, ce qui entraîne en même temps la convergence des termes « expression de genre » et « transgenre », ce dernier étant indéfectiblement lié aux droits de la personne portant sur l’identité de genre. Nous avons rédigé une série de recommandations en matière de politiques, et nous plaidons pour que les écoles catholiques s’acquittent de leur obligation légale de fournir un environnement d’apprentissage exempt de discrimination fondée sur l’expression de genre, sans conflit doctrinal et avec un large soutien doctrinal, afin que les élèves de toutes les expressions de genre puissent s’épanouir, que cette personne soit transgenre ou non

A National Survey of Hereditary Angioedema and Acquired C1 Inhibitor Deficiency in the United Kingdom

Background: Detailed demographic data on people with hereditary angioedema (HAE) and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom are relatively limited. Better demographic data would be beneficial in planning service provision, identifying areas of improvement, and improving care./ Objective: To obtain more accurate data on the demographics of HAE and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom, including treatment modalities and services available to patients./ Methods: A survey was distributed to all centers in the United Kingdom that look after patients with HAE and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency to collect these data./ Results: The survey identified 1152 patients with HAE-1/2 (58% female and 92% type 1), 22 patients with HAE with normal C1 inhibitor, and 91 patients with acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency. Data were provided by 37 centers across the United Kingdom. This gives a minimum prevalence of 1:59,000 for HAE-1/2 and 1:734,000 for acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom. A total of 45% of patients with HAE were on long-term prophylaxis (LTP) with the most used medication being danazol (55% of all patients on LTP). Eighty-two percent of patients with HAE had a home supply of acute treatment with C1 inhibitor or icatibant. A total of 45% of patients had a supply of icatibant and 56% had a supply of C1 inhibitor at home./ Conclusions: Data obtained from the survey provide useful information about the demographics and treatment modalities used in HAE and acquired C1 inhibitor deficiency in the United Kingdom. These data are useful for planning service provision and improving services for these patients

Rearticulating Youth Subjectivity Through Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs)

Populated by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer (LGBTQ) and allied youth, school-based gay straight alliances (GSAs) offer a unique opportunity to re-imagine or redefine youth subjectivity, especially with regards to the intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, and civic rights. Tracing the evolution of youth subjectivity from the emergence of Canadian schooling in the 1860s, I turn to Ontario’s Bill 13 as a recent example of how GSAs are subverting, or resisting these norms, and in so doing, operate as a kind of counter-public. Drawing from Jenks’ (2005) archetypes of the Dionysian and Apollonian child, I assert that GSAs can embody a third type of child subjectivity, the Athenian child (Smith, 2011; 2014) and, in so doing, provide theoretical space to reconstitute subjectivity for all youth