TARA ARMSTRONG: How can one claim to stand for women’s rights if they refuse to define what a woman is?

Last month, I rose in the Legislature to ask the government a simple question: “What is a woman?”

In response, Attorney General Niki Sharma said, “We are going to make sure that our laws and all of our policies respect and stand up for the rights of all people.”

But I wonder: does “all people” include women?

How can one claim to stand for women’s rights if they refuse to define what a woman is? Whether or not Sharma agrees with the biological reality that a woman is an adult human female, the question cannot be ignored. The purpose of women-designated spaces—bathrooms, change rooms, shelters, sports categories, prison units—is to keep women safe. Should the rights we have fought for, as women, to our own spaces be relinquished simply because some men now declare themselves to be women?

Some Transgender advocates obscure or downplay the biological differences between males and females in a manner that can reinforce outdated stereotypes that women have fought for decades to overcome. A male psychologist, reportedly working for the Ministry of Children and Families, diagnoses children as “transgender” based on factors like whether a girl prefers jeans, or a boy prefers dresses. How regressive!  A girl’s choice to wear jeans doesn’t make her less of a girl. There is no need to medicalize a girl simply because she likes doing things boys do too.

This same transgender specialist bragged that his practice grew from four children in 2010 to a thousand in less than a decade, with some patients as young as three years old. He revealed that about half—over 500 of his patients—are in Ministry care. How many more of these vulnerable children are being subjected to this dubious ideology and associated medical procedures?

In my second question to the Legislature, I called on the NDP government to ban gender transition procedures on minors. Ms. Sharma did not explain why the UK and many other countries have abandoned these procedures or mention that the purported benefits are unproven, while the impacts of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mastectomies are significant and irreversible. She attacked me and the question itself.

Wilbur Turner, a constituent of Kelowna - Lake Country - Coldstream, adopted a similar tactic in his recent letter to the editor, accusing me of vilifying others and weaponizing fear. Both responses appeal to emotion, lack meaningful argumentation, and hinder discourse.

Discourse is crucial, and we must focus on facts. The gender transition industry is expanding at an alarming rate. Gender patients are disproportionately among the most vulnerable, such as autistic children or children in Ministry care, many of whom are Indigenous. Research shows over 50% of trans children and youth have been diagnosed with psychiatric conditions, and there is no evidence that gender drugs or surgeries alleviate these issues. 

The aforementioned doctor was recorded encouraging patients to fabricate suicide threats to gain access to gender-related procedures, which should be a scandal. Even for suicidal youth, research finds no correlation between gender transition and reduced suicidal inclination. Studies suggest that, without intensive reinforcement of gender identity beliefs, most children eventually stop identifying as transgender. So why rush to unproven, irreversible medical procedures?

We can all acknowledge the reality of biological sex differences, allow boys and girls to dress and act as they wish, and accept that there is no scientific justification for performing gender procedures on minors. No child is born in the wrong body. They are perfect just the way they are. No drugs or scalpels are needed.

Tara Armstrong is the MLA for Kelowna - Lake Country - Coldstream.