EDMONTON - An Edmonton Catholic school trustee who says a transgender elementary student should be allowed to use the girls bathroom at her school could face sanctions for publicly criticizing school-board colleagues during the controversy.

Edmonton Catholic school board chairwoman Debbie Engel said during a news conference Thursday it will be up to the board of trustees to decide whether Patricia Grell should be disciplined for harming the district’s reputation.

“It’s very hard to handle when someone breaches all of the protocols and bylaws you have in place and goes ahead and steps aside from the other board members,” Engel said. “It is a very difficult situation ... In the past, when this has happened, it was followed with a resignation.”

But Grell said she won’t resign.

The conflict erupted after a Grade 2 student, who was born a boy but identifies as a girl, was told she should use the gender-neutral washroom in her Edmonton Catholic elementary school. The girl and her family have said she wants to use the girls washroom along with all the other female students because she identifies as a girl.

The seven-year-old student has been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having gender dysphoria. She is transitioning to live as a girl, in keeping with medical advice that it’s better for her mental health.

The girl’s family has filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

Engel said the district is doing its best to accommodate the girl’s family with the gender-neutral bathroom, but officials must also consider concerns and privacy of all the other families at the school.

The seven-person Catholic board discussed the issue but decided to await the commission ruling, which could take years. Once the board votes, trustees are expected to stand behind the decision, Engel said.

However, Grell said in media interviews and on her blog the board should let the student use the washroom she chooses. If other parents are uncomfortable with the student using the girls washroom, the district should educate them about gender dysphoria, Grell said.

“I was the lone person (on the board) who said, no, we should be doing something to help this kid,” Grell said.

“We don’t need the human rights commission to tell us how to treat our students. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ that says we should be loving people on the margins and welcoming them in, and I think our Pope would agree with me.”

Grell noted that last September, an Ontario Human Rights Commission decision prompted Hockey Canada to change its policy so minor hockey players can choose dressing rooms based on whether they see themselves as male or female.

Grell said she will not resign as a trustee.

“I will be sanctioned, probably, but I’m sorry. I can’t live with myself knowing I could have said something or done something to help this child and I didn’t because I was worried about being sanctioned. I’m a follower of Jesus, and he got into lots and lots of trouble,” Grell said with a laugh.

“This is such a silly thing to be arguing about. She’s been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as being gender dysphoric ... We accommodate people so they don’t feel different than other people, but we can’t seem to do that here.”

asands@edmontonjournal.com

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