Queer organisations in British Columbia are warning that the Conservative Party of BC poses a serious threat to trans youth, citing documented statements calling for bans on gender-affirming care, restrictions on pronouns in schools, and the abolition of human rights protections. The same arguments and tactics already used in Alberta are now arriving in BC, and trans people and their families are frightened.

What is actually being said

The Society for Advocacy for Gender-Affirming Healthcare, known as SAGAH, has compiled a record of the statements made by Conservative Party of BC figures targeting transgender young people. This is not a matter of inference or extrapolation. The positions are on record, and they are stark.

Interim leader Lorne Doerkson has blamed SOGI 123, an anti-bullying resource for teachers, for sowing "division" and "confusion" in schools, and has called for it to be removed. Doerkson also voted to allow three bills from Independent MLA Tara Armstrong to advance to debate: one calling for a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and labelling it "gender ideology," one proposing to prevent trans youth from using their correct names and pronouns at school, and a third calling for BC's Human Rights Code and the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner to be abolished entirely.

Read that last one again. The abolition of the Human Rights Code: not a tweak, not a reform, but the removal of the legal framework that protects people from discrimination based on race, sex, and other characteristics. NDP MLA Ravi Kahlon put it plainly at the time: "The BC Conservatives just voted to legalise discrimination based on race, sex and other characteristics." The BC NDP and Greens blocked all three bills, but the fact that they reached that point at all tells you something.

The candidates behind the rhetoric

SAGAH has named four figures whose statements give particular cause for concern. Health minister hopeful Anna Kindy met this spring with representatives of LGB Alliance Canada to discuss "children, ethics and the distinction between sex and gender." The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism has listed LGB Alliance Ireland and LGB Alliance Australia as hate groups, and describes the broader organisation as "adamantly opposed to trans rights." That is who Kindy chose to sit down with when thinking through her approach to children's healthcare.

Heather Maahs, the Chilliwack North candidate, said in 2022 that teaching sex and gender was "for sure grooming" children. The NDP asked the Conservatives to drop Maahs over those comments. The party declined. Kristina Loewen, running in Kelowna Centre, allegedly told a constituent during door knocking that SOGI was turning children transgender "en masse" and that books depicting gay sex violated the Criminal Code. These are not throwaway remarks; they reflect a consistent, deliberate framing of trans and queer existence as something dangerous that must be stopped.

And then there is newly elected Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who said she would "immediately ban the administration of medical and social gender transitions for children" after taking the leadership. Findlay also posed for photographs with Chris Elston, known as "Billboard Chris," one of the most prominent anti-trans campaigners in Canada. This is who the BC Conservatives have chosen to lead them.

The Alberta template

None of this is happening in a vacuum. Alberta's United Conservative Party, under Danielle Smith, has already shown what happens when this rhetoric reaches government. Alberta has banned gender-affirming care for youth under 16, barred trans girls from playing on amateur female sports teams, and prohibited teachers from using correct pronouns for trans students without parental permission. Premier Smith used the Charter's notwithstanding clause to push these three laws through. That clause exists to let governments override fundamental rights when they judge it necessary. Smith judged it necessary to override the rights of trans children.

BC has until recently been a relative safe harbour. The fear among trans people and their families there is not abstract: it is the fear of watching what happened next door happen to them.

"The queer and trans community are anticipating that a BC Conservative government would ban health care for trans youth," said Clio Lake, a director at SAGAH. Lake is not speculating. The anticipation is grounded in what Conservative figures have said, voted for, and chosen to associate themselves with.

What the same playbook always costs

I have heard versions of these arguments many times, and I want to name what they actually do. Describing anti-bullying resources as divisive, framing gender diversity as ideology, and calling affirming care harmful: each of these moves the conversation away from the real question, which is what trans young people need in order to live well. The answer to that question is not complicated. They need to be safe at school. They need their names and pronouns respected. They need access to healthcare that reflects the current evidence base and is endorsed by the World Health Organisation, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, and WPATH, among others. What is being proposed in BC would remove all three.

Ella Dufault, an organiser at Queer Momentum BC, put it well: "Language that questions the validity, rights or inclusion of transgender people fuels division and can contribute to increased discrimination against an already marginalised community. We should reject politics that scapegoat trans people and instead build a province grounded in respect, equality and human rights for all." That is not a complicated ask. It is the minimum.

Where support exists

The BC Green Party has been unequivocal. Party leader Emily Lowan has spoken at SAGAH's Trans Day of Visibility rally, and the Greens have pledged to create strong public coverage for gender-affirming care across surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers, modelled on what is already available in the Yukon. They have also committed to closing loopholes in BC's conversion therapy ban. The Greens were also willing to criticise the NDP's name change ban and the closure of the pathway for BC residents to access gender-affirming care in Montreal, which matters: support for the trans community should not be conditional or partial.

Trans people in BC are watching this election carefully. The organisations raising the alarm are not panicking; they are documenting, naming names, and asking for clear statements from candidates who have so far declined to give them. That seems like a reasonable thing to ask of anyone seeking to govern.

If there is a news story you would like me to cover then just let Sammy know.

Dr Helen Webberley is a Gender Specialist, Medical Educator, writer, and advocate, and the founder of GenderGP. She writes about gender diversity, trans healthcare, and the lives of trans people and their families.