• Premier Smith’s UCP tables three bills related to transgender issues

• One bill will ban hormone blockers from being prescribed to 15-year-olds and younger in the name of “gender-affirming care”

• The other bills ban biological males from women’s sports, and give parents more control over what their children are taught in school

Alberta’s Premier, Danielle Smith, tabled three monumental legislative changes on Thursday related to transgender policies, billed as protections for vulnerable children, parental rights, and women.

One of the three bills will make it illegal for doctors to prescribe so-called transgender kids with hormone blockers (dubbed “gender-affirming care”) until they are at least 16-years-old.

Teens aged 16 and 17 could receive these treatments, but only with approval from parents, a physician, and a psychologist. The bill also prohibits gender-affirming surgeries for all minors.

In a news conference on Thursday, Smith said the law will protect kids from making “life-altering and potentially permanent decisions.” 

Smith had a detransitioned Albertan woman, Kellie Lynn Pirie, speak to the horrors that “several” detransitioned individuals have told her.

One story Pirie told The Counter Signal that really impacted her was of a woman who started with hormone blockers, followed by a double mastectomy at 17, only to subsequently regret her decision and realize she made a mistake. 

“Her doctor refused to see her again. Her councilor stopped giving her therapy. And the LGBT support group she had been in, banned her and called her hateful,” Pirie said. 

The Premier noted in January, when she first announced the pending legislation, that detransitioners had also inspired her to make the policy changes. 

The Premier told reporters at the time she was influenced by the UK’s Tavistock Centre saga, a gender clinic that was forced to shut down after a review found it was reckless in prescribing puberty blockers to vulnerable teenagers. 

Smith said she was moved by the story of Kiera Bell, a detransitioned woman who later sued the clinic for not protecting her while conducting experimental treatment with life-altering outcomes. 

Hormone blockers are given to kids to “pause” their puberty while the kids explore what gender they wish to self-identify with. However, the drugs can have devastating long-term effects on those who take them, including sterilization.  

Opt-in for Parents

Another bill related to Alberta’s education entails that parents must opt-in for their children to receive sex education, including instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. Moreover, all third-party instructional materials will require approval from Alberta Education before classroom use.

Additionally, schools must obtain parental permission for name or pronoun changes for students under 15, and notify parents of such changes for students aged 16-17. 

Women’s Sports

Finally, the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, aims to restrict female competitive sports teams to athletes who were born female, to ban biological males who self-identify as female from unfairly competing against women.

This rule would apply to high schools, colleges, universities, and amateur sports organizations. Smith said co-ed sports divisions will be encouraged to provide opportunities for trans-identified athletes, should they not want to compete against peers of the same biological sex.