In a bill, passed by the Alberta legislature, intended to enshrine gay rights in the Alberta Human Rights Code (Bill 44), a buried clause is causing controversy (and rightly so). Bill 44 was passed on Monday June 1, 2009 after a 7 hour debate that ended in the early morning. CBC reports:

A clause in the bill, which is an amendment to the province's human rights legislation, requires that school boards give parents written notice when controversial topics [sex, religion, or sexual orientation] are going to be covered in the curriculum. Parents can then ask for their child to be excluded from the discussion.

There will be no restrictions placed on casual classroom discussions that might arise about the topics....

But the buried clause had drawn objections from teachers, schools boards and human rights groups, who argued Bill 44 makes it possible for parents to file human rights complaints against teachers and school districts, creating a chill with regard to what is taught in the classroom.

Another direct Conservative attack on LGBTQ youth and their allies. What will this law do? Put up another barrier to discussing LGBTQ issues (as well as other topics) in the classroom and further marginalize Alberta's queer youth. This is a really embarassing move by the governing party in Alberta. It just goes to show you how off-base they really are.

Rather upseting news from xtra.ca :

The Alberta government delisted funding for gender reassignment surgery this week, and trans activists are quickly organizing to push for the program's reinstatement.

In Tuesday’s budget, the province announced it was cutting the GRS program to save $700,000 a year. Alberta plans to spend $12.9 billion on healthcare in 2009, according to figures released this week. The GRS program funded surgeries for between 10 and 20 people a year.

The decision to end the GRS program comes just weeks after the province said it would add sexual orientation but not gender identity to the province’s human rights legislation.

A Facebook Group has been created for people to join and discuss the issue, as well as to organize a response. It hardly seems like this is about saving money when so few are performed each year. The program is estimated to cost about 17 cents per Albertan.

Here is a backgrounder on SRS in Canada from Egale.ca. The backgrounder has not been updated with the new Alberta ruling (it still lists it as being covered under their provincial health plan.