School role-play session instructs teachers to overrule parental guidance

Board training simulated a coming-out scenario to encourage increased educator involvement in the personal lives of their students, citing human rights policies and suicide-risk statistics.

In a 2021 KPRDSB professional development session for Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) staff, participants engaged in a role-play titled “A Student Comes Out” where a student named Fiona tries to come out as non-binary to Mr. Straight because she fears her parents.

Mr. Straight, clearly a heterosexual male teacher, says he’s uncomfortable helping Fiona and suggests she speak with her parents.

Fiona says she can’t discuss it with her parents because they’re “constantly saying negative things about trans and non-binary people” and she fears being disowned.

The scenario implies that Mr. Straight’s response is somehow wrong because parents provide inadequate moral guidance for their children. That leaves teachers as the ideal confidant on topics of a sexual nature.