LISA SALAZAR — BLOG

I won’t malign this said professor, but I did take issue with the WSJ Op-Ed he promoted, which weighs in on the transgender debate. All the discussion concerned the recent debate at the Vancouver School Board regarding their policy on how transgender and gender-variant students should be treated. This became a circus when parents self-identifying as conservative Asian evangelical Christians lobbied against it. Much has been said for and against this policy, including the professor’s Facebook wall comment thread. One perspective missing in this banter is that we are talking about only one trans person out of 166 (.6%).  Additionally, at most, only one out of two experience gender dysphoria that is severe enough to warrant social and, eventually, medical transition. In other words, all the pedagogical anxiety expressed is, for the most part, unfounded. Not every teacher, class, or school risks being blessed by a gender non-conforming student. A school with a student body of 500 w...

It seems innocent enough to have a day to celebrate fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The Salazar family, summer 2002. If one’s relationship with their father was good, this day of honor will seem completely appropriate and welcomed. This yearly reminder could be extremely painful if your dad did not deserve this kind of respect. Equally, if you’re a trans woman who fathered children, this day can either be good or a bad—if not surreal—experience. It all depends on the kind of relationship you now have with your children. Father’s Day is extremely painful when your children have rejected you and want nothing to do with you. As far as they are concerned, you might as well be dead. It hurts. However, If your relationship has survived, you can count yourself lucky. I was fortunate on two counts. On the one hand, I had a loving dad, and, best of all, despite his relatively old age, when I came out to him (he was 89), he accepted me. O...

It’s a dizzying time for trans people. Vancouver parents opposed to the trans-inclusive policy, June 11, 2014 Last night, I attended a meeting at the Vancouver School Board (VSB) as I listened to the final presentation from medical experts. The issue being considered is revising a 2004 VSB policy that spells out the district’s guidelines for providing a safe, positive environment for trans and gender-variant students in all grades, from kindergarten to grade 12. The associate superintendent said, “The biggest change was about getting some clarity of language.” This simple administrative procedure became the entrée for a well-organized and vocal group of conservative parents who self-described as Chinese Evangelical Christians. They used this as an opportunity to lobby against the adoption of the proposed updated policy, arguing that this policy took away their rights as parents and guardians to decide what was best for their children. Unfortunately, these parents are using both r...