Several hundred pro-LGBTQ activists counter-protested a smaller protest opposed to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, or SOGI, programs in schools at various locations in Nanaimo on Wednesday.

The protests started in front of the School District 68 building on Wakesiah Avenue where a handful of anti-SOGI protesters — one with a sign equating the program with eugenics and pedophilia — were drowned out by counter-protesters chanting while waving homemade signs and rainbow flags. 

School District Superintendent Scott Saywell was wearing a rainbow tie and holding a pride flag at the counter-protest.

“The idea that people can't be who they are is a dangerous ideal and it's just fueled by hate. As you can see we're not going to accept it,” he said, gesturing at the crowd. 

Saywell says that the people opposed to SOGI have serious misconceptions about what it actually entails.

“I've heard from different people in the past who are part of the protest group that we're trying to turn children into being gay. It's nonsense,” he said. “Any curriculum or education in schools is sharing the idea that children are who they are, and they're accepted and loved.”

School Trustee Tom Rokeby was wearing a pride flag as a cape as he participated in the pro-SOGI protest. 

“I'm the parent of a non-binary child so being out here today is an important stance for my family to take,” he said. “I'm just delighted to see that the city agrees with me that the community of Nanaimo is overwhelmingly in support of protecting our kids.” 

School Board Chair Greg Keller says that the school district stands against hate. 

“We categorically reject hate speech and discrimination in any form,” he said. “The derogatory language and confrontational behavior used by some of the protesters in the past are not aligned with our board's values. Quite frankly, we are committed to standing against hate and ensuring the wellbeing of our LGBTQ students and staff.”

The two protests then moved to Nanaimo City Hall where the anti-SOGI side swelled to over 100 protesters but were still outnumbered by about 400 LGBTQ supporters.

Anti-SOGI protest organizer David Wang, who ran for Nanaimo city council last year and got 2,004 votes, was sporting a People’s Party of Canada ball cap and dark sunglasses at the protest.

“This is categorically not opposed to the LGBTQ movement,” he said. “Nobody has any problems with any adults identifying however they wish. This really is a matter to do with children. Many people on the conservative side of this issue feel that children are innocent and they shouldn't be introduced to concepts about sexuality until they reach the age of sexual maturity, around 12 or 13.”

Erica Bakewell runs the local queer event group The Coast is Queer with her partner Ash Horner and they organized the counter-protest together. Bakewell says she doesn’t buy the claims that Wang’s protest wasn’t homophobic.

“So they're using the guise, as far as I'm concerned, of the SOGI curriculum to state that they are taking away parents rights. That they're teaching young children inappropriate content. But what I'm finding is that it's very much directed at the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.

Bakewell says that the anti-SOGI protesters haven’t done their homework before protesting, 

“Nobody has ever sat down and opened the SOGI curriculum and just looked’ OK, kindergarten, what is my kid learning?’ And what are they learning? We're learning that families are different. Some families have two moms and some families have two dads, like it's really not what they are claiming it to be,” she said. “Really, they're over sexualizing it, they're taking it and trying to make us, the LGBTQ+ community, look like pedophiles or predators or groomers, which of course, is not the case.”

Wang admits that he hasn’t researched the SOGI policies in School District 68 

“I haven't researched what the policies are here in Nanaimo specifically, no.”

A fact sheet by the Ministry of Education titled SOGI-Inclusive Education Myth Busting says that classroom activities are designed to provide age-appropriate learning opportunities to help students understand the impacts of discrimination and improve awareness and understanding of the diverse people around them.

The fact sheet says that “topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity are included as part of the K-10 physical health curriculum. Such as learning about bullying and discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Lauren Semple grew up on Vancouver Island and said that the schools she went to before SOGI was introduced in 2016 weren’t safe spaces. 

“I was a queer kid. I was a gender diverse trans kid,” they said. “I grew up in unsafe spaces that were unwelcoming. I grew up in a school system that didn't have a queer straight alliance, or a Safe Space Alliance, that didn't have other queer and gay and trans people that I could look up to, and ask questions of.”

Semple said that it is heartening to see how the education system has become more inclusive. 

“I went through so much discovery and challenges trying to figure out who I was and to see kids now being encouraged and supported to explore their identities. I mean, that's what matters most because I remember that experience.”

A person who was using a bullhorn to shout at the LGBTQ crowd at Nanaimo City Hall was arrested for assault in an incident “that involved some pushing” according to a police spokesperson. The police spokesperson could not answer if the person had been released or would be criminally charged. 

The protest and counter-protest later marched on opposite sidewalks from City Hall to Maffeo-Sutton Park where both protests ended. 

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