Queer Granddad

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...

Looking through social media posts about the planned Drag show protest in Kelowna today I noticed quite a few people were unaware of why protesters are calling Drag performers and transgender people groomers and pedophiles. I decided to write a blog post to give some background. I attended the event to show solidarity with the queer community and see first-hand what all the fuss was about. I was expecting the police would need to be called. A poster inviting people to join the protest showed up on a social media page under the name of Graeme Flannigan with the title "URGENT: Protest All Ages Drag Show for Children." Nowhere was it billed as being an event for children.  The battle cry of this group is that these types of performances sexualize children. It is some of the same people and the same storyline used by those who organized to support Parents Voice BC school trustee candidates as they sought to end SOGI 123 in schools, a set of resources to help create safe and inclu...

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson (r) and Jenn Smith at the anti-SOGI protest in Victoria, BC which they organized on September 29, 2018, where dozens of counter-protesters also gathered. Photo - Black Press Media To quote Laura Lynn Tyler Thompson who names herself as CEO of Laura Lynn Tyler Thompson Ministries "Disagreement with an ideology is not hate." Thompson has been in the cross-hairs of furious parents of LGBTQ kids, their allies, and many groups related to K-12 education across British Columbia because of her crusade to have SOGI 123, which she calls an ideology, removed from schools. Some of Thompson's critics have labeled her social media posts as hate speech. SOGI 123 is a set of resources for teachers to help create safe schools for all students regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This was implemented two years ago by BC's Ministry of Education and has been adopted by all 60 school districts across the province. Thompson has also bee...