Open Letter to Laurie Baird, Kelowna Chapter Leader for Action4Canada

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Laurie Baird and members of the Action4Canada Kelowna chapter doing a prayer march around the School District 23 offices on April 7, 2023


Open letter to Laurie Baird who is the Kelowna chapter leader for Action4Canada, a Canada-wide organization that pedals in fearmongering and stoking hate against the 2SLGBTQ community.

Dear Ms. Baird,

The transphobic assault where a man belligerently demanded proof of gender for youth participating at the recent school sports event in Kelowna shocked and disgusted thousands of people around the world. This is on you, Laurie Baird. It is on you and the people like you who crusade as the moral gender police wreaking havoc on the lives of children who want nothing more than what every child wants. To be loved and supported, and to participate fully in life, school, and sports.

You masquerade as someone who is out to “protect the children”, when in fact what you’re doing is causing extreme anxiety and stress to gender-diverse and trans children and the parents who love and support them. This is what you’re doing when you hand out harmful and false literature as parents pick their kids up from schools in Kelowna depicting teachers as sexual deviants who show porn to children. This is what you’re doing when you hold prayer marches around school board offices with the intention of guiding the administration to follow your version of Christianity in public schools. This is what you’re doing when you encourage your group to undermine teachers, trustees, and administrators by attacking the use of SOGI 123 resources at school board meetings. This is what you’re doing when you protest with your signs at events that support queer youth.

Poster created by Baird that is being distributed in Kelowna

What you’re trying to do Ms. Baird is instil fear among the public by using misinformation tactics surrounding the support of 2SLGBTQ youth in schools. You want people to be afraid that having queer youth seeing themselves represented at school is going to turn straight or cisgender kids gay or transgender. You want people to be afraid that transgender youth are going to be a threat to cisgender youth in schools. You want people to be afraid that youth are going to transition without their parent's knowledge or consent. You want people to think that supporting queer kids in schools is part of some global agenda supported by big pharma. None of this is true. None. Any “evidence” you can point to is contorted and cherry-picked infotainment that has zero credibility or relevance in Kelowna. What you’re doing, is by definition, disseminating propaganda.

Baird and Kelowna Chapter members of Action4Canada
handing out defamatory pamphlets at Kelowna schools alleging that
teachers are using pornographic materials in public education

To where does this discriminatory behavior lead? It leads to what happened at the school athletic event in Kelowna. It leads to ignorance-based and hate-fuelled assaults that impact children and their families. It leads to youth being afraid for their future and being afraid to be visible. It leads to more youth suicides. It leads to increased hate crimes. It leads to more mental health issues. All of this is statistically proven.

Ms. Baird, it seems you have dedicated your retirement years to advocating against supporting 2SLGBTQ youth. I truly hope you consider the results of your work thus far. You are feeding a beast and it isn’t pretty. If you took some time to speak to the parents of queer youth you would quickly learn how damaging and hurtful your work is. Do you want this to be your legacy?

Read a message from the child's parents of the track and field incident on why it is important to call this behaviour out.


Wilbur Turner

Kelowna, BC

Location: Kelowna, BC, Canada

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