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My parents happily have four children, including me. Although under the laws that prevailed they had to divorce after the gender reassignment, they continued to live together in a remarkably strong marital bond. When the British same-sex union laws recently changed, they legally re-cemented their union.

By no stretch of the imagination could my father be described as suffering from a “mental disorder,” let alone be compared to people suffering from schizophrenia or dissociative gender disorder, as the Edmonton Catholic School trustee Larry Kowalczyk has characterized transgender people. One could hardly imagine the World Bank asking her to write a book, or our Sovereign and her advisers including her in the Honours list, if she had been.

Kowalczyk, and those who think like him, have every right to hold what they believe are religious views that don’t condone transgender. What they do not have the right to do is to peddle quasi-medical comments that first have nothing to do with the religious teaching of his faith, second are completely discredited by the medial profession, third run contrary to the laws of this province, and fourth disregard the tolerant and prevailing moral acceptance of the society in which they live.

Why such comments are unacceptable from a public figure is because of the damage they cause. The whole question of transgender is still only partially understood by the general population. This is thankfully changing, in part to the excellent work of our public school system in promoting understanding of and tolerance for people who may be different from ourselves, and who are following paths we might never follow, but which are part of the human condition.