A rally to support LGBTQ youth is gaining momentum, said 91原创 parent and organizer Stacey Wakelin.

The rally of parents, grandparents, and members of the LGBTQ community is set to go before the Tuesday, Sept. 26 91原创 school board meeting.

鈥淲e are gathering to show our support for our LGBTQ youth. We believe in the SOGI curriculum and want to celebrate it. This is going to be a peaceful rally to show that there are far more people who want SOGI in their child鈥檚 education,鈥� she said.

鈥淓veryone is welcome. We have entire families coming out, grandmas, and support from surrounding communities.鈥�

The rally will begin at 5 p.m. outside the 91原创 School District office, she said.

Parents have been rallying on both sides of the new SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) curriculum that is mandated across the province.

Many of the people attending the rally will be from the Facebook group Wakelin started called 91原创 Parents for Inclusivity. So far, more than 600 people have joined the page.

Around 25 people met last week to organize the upcoming rally and learn how to best support the LGBTQ community and also to share experiences, she said. Some against the SOGI curriculum also showed up to the meeting.

鈥淲e started this group because there was enough hate out there against the LGBTQ community and we wanted to counter that. We are fighting to ensure children are given accurate information about the LGBTQ community,鈥� said Wakelin.

The group is concerned that some people have been spreading misleading and harmful information about a policy that aims to help all students feel safe and accepted.

91原创 resident Kari Simpson, one of the founders of a Conservative group called Culture Guard has been outspoken against SOGI education and wants to see it abolished from the school curriculum.

SOGI lesson plans incorporate well-known brainwashing techniques, designed to create confusion and gender dysphoria in children, Simpson told the Times in an earlier interview.

It鈥檚 this 鈥渇ear-based鈥� movement that has the LPI group of parents concerned.

鈥淲e know that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and two-spirit children who are not accepted by their communities and families experience a significantly higher rate of suicide and homelessness than those who are supported and accepted,鈥� said Morgane Oger, who ran for the NDP in the last provincial election and is transgender. She has offered support to the 91原创 Parents group.

Oger said that the SOGI curriculum is designed to be delivered in an age-appropriate manner.

The LPI group will also be speaking as a delegate at the school board meeting, said Wakelin.

Wakelin said she knew going in this would be a large responsibility but said she has lots of support and that support is growing.

鈥淚 started this because I had to act. This is about basic human rights. Our kids, our future grandkids have the right to feel safe and accepted in their schools.

That is at the heart of the SOGI curriculum,鈥� she said.

monique@langleytimes.com

monique@langleytimes.com
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