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EDMONTON — It started earlier this year when a seven-year-old transgender girl wanted to use the girl’s washroom in her Catholic school.

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She was no longer identifying as a boy and didn’t want to stand out by having to use a new, gender-neutral washroom.

In May, the school in Edmonton had agreed she could use the female facilities.

But the girl, whose mother knows her daughter is wise beyond her years, wasn’t buying it.

“’I’m actually going to need to see that in writing, Mama,” the girl’s mother recalls her saying. “To date I haven’t been able to give it to her.”

The family filed a human rights complaint and Edmonton Catholic Schools has tried several times since then to craft a broader policy — dealing with more than just washrooms — that protects gay and transgender students while falling in line with the church.

The issue may reach its boiling point Tuesday when the school board holds its next meeting over a washroom controversy, which has ballooned into a contentious religious debate over transgender rights.