Alpine Cervo, 16, claims that as soon as Premier Danielle Smith announced the Alberta administration’s proposed policies on transgender youth next week, he started considering organizing a student walkout.
The protest on Wednesday morning, according to the Grade 10 student at Leduc Composite High School, is intended to demonstrate support for his 13-year-old brother, who is transgender.
According to Smith, the legislature’s fall session will introduce new regulations, such as limitations on young people changing their names or pronouns at school and undergoing hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery.
She has stated that the laws’ main objective is to ensure that kids are “fully informed” about the choices they are making because they might eventually come to regret them.
The plans have sparked weeks of opposition, both among the general public and from organizations like the Alberta Medical Association.
According to Cervo, the strike at his school will last 30 minutes, and he spoke with students at other schools who were considering doing the same to protest the proposed changes.
Similar walkouts were scheduled at schools all over the province.
About 200 individuals even left Victoria School in the heart of Edmonton at 10 a.m. and protested outside the entrance doors.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Cervo said, “I’m happy to grow up in a home where it’s safe to be whoever I want to be, but not all children are lucky like that.” He also mentioned that he knows some other kids who aren’t as fortunate.
“When your own parents essentially tell you that you are no longer their child, it actually hurts you. Some people get rejected or expelled.
Cervo claims he was once trans but presently views himself as gender-fluid. He claims that he mostly goes by “he,” but it occasionally changes.
Cervo notes that no one in Alberta undergoes gender reassignment surgery before the age of 18, which is a significant point, when asked if his fluidity could support claims that young people who receive gender-affirming care may eventually change their minds.
Cervo believes that his brother and other people his age are capable of making their own decisions regarding other gender-affirming treatments, such as the hormone therapy his brother has been waiting for to alter his voice.
“He has been waiting for gender-affirming treatment for the past two years, and these procedures will force him to wait until he is at least 16 years old,” according to Cervo.
Thousands object to Alberta’s new gender-identity laws
To oppose recently announced plans to significantly alter some of Alberta’s guidelines regarding trans children, hundreds of people gathered in front of the provincial government.
According to Smith, gender-affirming procedures will be prohibited for people 17 and under. And unless they’ve already started such treatments, there wouldn’t be any hormone therapies or puberty blockers for the purpose of gender affirmation for anyone 15 and under.
Kids under the age of 15 who want to change their names or pronouns at school may need parental permission. Parents would need to be informed, but students 16 and 17 wouldn’t need their permission.
There is no “single voice” that can speak for the entire transgender community, according to Smith, who defended her proposals on Monday while traveling to Ottawa. She claimed to have spoken with some transgender people who had expressed concerns about children’s ability to transition.
She said, “We had to have a discussion about what is the proper age to be able to make those life-changing decisions.”
Cervo expressed optimism after witnessing the demonstrations over the weekend against the proposed changes.
He said, “It made me happy that other people are also standing up.”
