Teens plan class walkout on Wednesday to oppose Alberta's gender identity policies
CTV
Sixteen-year-old Aspen Cervo says he began thinking about a student walkout over the Alberta government's planned policies around transgender youth right after Premier Danielle Smith announced them last week.
Sixteen-year-old Aspen Cervo says he began thinking about a student walkout over the Alberta government's planned policies around transgender youth right after Premier Danielle Smith announced them last week.
The Grade 10 student at Leduc Composite High School says his 13-year-old brother is transgender and the walkout is meant to show him and others they're supported.
Smith has said the fall sitting of the legislature would bring new rules, including restrictions on youth changing their names or pronouns at school and getting hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery.
She has said the goal of the policies is to ensure children are "fully informed" about the decisions they are making because they might regret them later in life.
The policies have spurred several days of protest — both at the grassroots level and from groups like the Alberta Medical Association.
Cervo says the walkout at his school is to last half an hour, and he's in touch with students at other schools who say they're planning to do the same to oppose the proposed changes.
"I'm lucky to grow up in a household where it's safe to be whoever I want to be, but not all kids are lucky like that," Cervo told The Canadian Press in an interview, adding he knows some others who aren't as fortunate.
