Passionate debate was the order of the evening outside the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) on Tuesday evening.
As trustees and administration prepared to begin their final regular board meeting of the school year inside, dozens of people, representing both sides of the debate on gender identity and privacy, gathered outside for opposing protests.
The GECDSB announced last week that out of concern for the safety of all people who attend the meetings, those meetings would be closed to the general public until further notice, and streamed live on the board's YouTube channel.
According to the board's policy on gender identity and expression, students and their parents may submit a change to their enrolment record to reflect gender identity in writing. Parental consent is not required to do so. The board also cited the Ontario Human Rights Code, which protects all members of the school community from discrimination and harassment, and also states that the student is entitled to privacy except in emergency cases.
Patsy Copus was with the first group outside that was calling for the policy to be dropped. She said she was not only upset with the board closing meetings to an in-person gallery, but that as a concerned parent, her objective was to have an open dialogue with counter-protestors, who were there to support the board's LGBTQ+ community.
"I'm interested in mixing in with the LGBTQ [community], I came out here to speak with them and kind of iron out any misinformation that they might have been hearing from people," said Copus.
Copus also pointed out that all she was looking for was transparency, and for school staff to not keep secrets from parents or other stakeholders.
Darryl Hicks was on hand with the counter-protestors, saying that the board's policy, which is available for public view on the board's website, spells out what must take place.
"I don't see how in any way this could be misinformation, since it's what they're [the protestors] yelling about, too," said Hicks. "The board passed a policy where if a child comes out to a teacher, that teacher is not required to report it to their parents, especially if that child doesn't want them to."
Hicks also said that if a student comes out to a teacher, rather than a parent, it may mean that the student is not comfortable mentioning it at home.
WindsorNewsToday.ca had reached out to GECDSB Vice-Chair Cathy Cooke for comment on the board's decision to take their meeting to YouTube but had not received a response at the time of publication.
