In the spirit of inventing mental disorders, I suggest adding bigotry, willful ignorance, and general obnoxiousness to the medical lexicon. Then again, that would be giving Edmonton Catholic School Board trustee Larry Kowalczyk far too much credit.

Kowalczyk caused uproar recently, when in an interview with CBC last Tuesday, he suggested that being transgender was synonymous with having a “mental disorder.” The statement came as part of a larger discussion within the board, which began this spring when a seven-year-old transgender girl was told she couldn’t use the girl’s washroom at her Catholic school. Since then, the board has worked on drafting a policy which would allow transgender students to use the facilities and play on the sports teams corresponding with their gender identities. Following a board meeting last Tuesday (three hours which played out more like bad daytime television than a gathering of civilized adults), a motion was made to defer discussion of the policy to next month’s meeting.

Earlier this year in an email exchange, which was also provided to CBC, Kowalczyk wrote: “I know very little about transgenderism I have been trying to bring myself up to speed on the subject.” A word of advice for the trustee Kowalczyks of the world: good start, now stop talking and follow through. Be quiet. Listen. Find some credible sources. Learn from the actual lived experiences of transgender people. Do not follow up with links to a YouTube video of a pastor who compares being transgender to having an eating disorder or pretending to be an animal.

The views Mr. Kowalczyk expressed, and later defended by citing his Catholic faith as explanation, demonstrate a deep lack of both knowledge and a desire to learn. Marni Panas, a Catholic transgender woman who has been actively supporting the child and her mother wrote in an email, “many people cherry pick what they want and call it doctrine. And use that ‘doctrine’ to discriminate and even harm others.”

As a public figure, Kowalczyk’s statements are especially harmful. The role of a school board trustee is to look out for the best interests of the children in the district the trustee represents. This means looking out for the best interests of transgender children, who already experience a higher risk of harassment and discrimination, which can lead to higher rates of homelessness, depression, and suicide, among other issues. It is the duty of the board to provide a safe, inviting environment and ensure that this discrimination is not perpetuated inside school walls, especially not by the elected trustees themselves.

To be clear, what’s going on here is not an issue of religious freedom — it is an issue of human rights. The Alberta Human Rights Act protects transgender individuals from gender-based discrimination. The Catholic board is publicly funded, and Tuesday’s meeting of tears, yelling, accusations, and blatant intolerance revealed nothing but a broken system in need of either serious reform or dissolution.

As for Kowalczyk, using faith to excuse hateful behaviour is a tired old trick, and all that’s left for him to do is resign. The statements he has made show that not only is he unwilling or unable fulfill his role as a trustee, but that he would rather cling to selective doctrine than abide by the Catholic teachings of love and acceptance for all people. Religious beliefs and intolerance need not go hand in hand.

Marni Panas summed it up best: “As a Catholic I will not be judged by others. And I do not judge others. My soul will be judged by God. My female soul.”