Jagmeet Singh responds to nationwide anti-LGBTQ2S+ protests

My heart [Applause] protesters and counter protesters took to the streets in cities right across this country today over gender identity and sexual orientation policies in schools protesters under the banner 1 million March for children are advocating for the elimination of teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools but there are

Also crowds of counter protesters condemning those protests as homophobic and transphobic that back and forth garnered national attention when New Brunswick and Saskatchewan adopted policies that require parental consent for students under 16 to change their pronouns Federal NDP leader jug meet Singh joined counter-protesters in Ottawa this morning he’s with us here now

Hi Mr Singh pleasure to welcome you back to Studio thanks so much I appreciate you making the time I wanted to start off actually on those protests today and ask you why you felt it was important to help lead a group of counter protesters yeah I think this is a story of there’s

Two different groups here there are some bad actors that are purposely punching down on vulnerable people and I wanted folks the queer Community from the trans Community should know that I got your back that my team has your back we are with you we’re on the front lines we’re

Going to support you but I do want to acknowledge there’s some people I don’t think that know exactly what’s going on they’re they’re conflating parental consent and parental involvement with with really protecting kids obviously parents that love their kids should be involved in everything that their kids

Do but for some kids the home is not a safe place and and I know what that’s like when I was a kid my parents are both very loving but my dad was struggling with an addiction and so sometimes the home was a scary place at my safe place what school or libraries

And so for those kids who would feel unsafe we want to create a safe environment for them in school and and I think it it’s important that we’re seeing more and more conservative premiers distract from the issues of housing or groceries or their crumbling Health Care system and punching down on

Vulnerable people as a way to distract and that to me is a very serious problem it’s interesting that you point out the sort of framing of the issue because certainly when I’ve interviewed those premiers on this subject they choose to frame it as an issue of parental rights first versus

Anything to do with minority rights and polling they point out supports them in that a majority of Canadians for example through an Angus Reed Pool recently say that there should be at least parents should be informed versus you know they’re not all saying they need to give

Consent but they should at least be informed for example if their child wants to change their pronoun how do you navigate the issue knowing that that’s the reality of how parents feel versus you know the interest as you describe them of protecting kids who don’t feel safe

I think that it really is those two stories that we need to distinguish between some parents who just don’t fully understand what’s going on I think their parental rights are being attacked versus those who know exactly what they’re doing they’re targeting marginalized communities and punching

Down on them and and using them as a scapegoat to distract from real issues and I think it’s important to call out we do want schools to be safe we want our kids to be safe and we want our parents to be involved but just acknowledge that the policies that we

Put in place should be the best ones to keep the most kids safe and ensure that they are not harming themselves or putting themselves in a position where they don’t feel welcome

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh weighs in on nationwide anti-trans protests and provincial education policies.

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