LGBTQ+ groups pushing for speedy court process, halt to Alberta transgender bill

EDMONTON — LGBTQ+ advocate organizations say they’re working as quickly as possible to ask a court to stop the Alberta government from bringing into force a transgender law they say will cause immediate harm.

The Alberta government’s law will ban doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for those under 16.

Bennett Jensen, legal director at Egale Canada, said the groups, which also include Skipping Stone and five Alberta families, will call for an injunction to protect young people’s access to health care while the courts decide whether the law is constitutional.

“This is harmful immediately, and there’s enough reason to doubt the constitutionality of this for the judge to preserve the status quo while they consider the broader arguments,” Jensen told The Canadian Press on Monday.

In documents filed with the Court of King’s Bench on Monday, they cite five transgender youth who will be directly affected.

One applicant, kept anonymous in the legal filing, is 10 years old, transgender and intersex. She was assigned male at birth but was born with a chromosome abnormality.

Under the law, she will be prevented from accessing puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones for six years, until she is 16.

Another applicant described in the filing is 11 years old, was assigned male at birth, but uses the pronouns she and her. She, too, will be prevented from accessing puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones until she is 16 years old.

The filing says that if puberty blockers are delayed, irreversible physical development will occur. None of the individual applicants will be able to access gender-affirming “top surgery” until they are 18 years old.

The surgical ban went into effect as soon as the bill received royal assent Thursday, but other prohibitions are expected to come into force in the coming months.

The LGBTQ+ groups argue changes to health law violate gender-diverse young people’s Section 7 Charter right to security of the person, their Section 12 right to be free from cruel and unusual treatment and their Section 15 right to equality.

They also say it also violates the Alberta Bill of Rights.

A spokesperson for Alberta’s justice minister said in an email Monday the government believes this legislation “strikes an appropriate balance,” but that it would be inappropriate to comment further since the matter is now before the courts.

A Court of King’s Bench of Alberta hearing scheduled for Dec. 16 in Calgary is expected to outline the next procedural steps.

The health-care bill is one of three that will affect transgender people in the province and were passed last week by Premier Danielle Smith’s government.

Among other new requirements in two other bills expected to come into force next fall, children under 16 will need parental consent if they want to change their names or pronouns at school.

A similar law governs school policy in Saskatchewan, where the government invoked the notwithstanding clause last year, a measure that allows governments to override certain Charter rights for up to five years.

Smith has said she doesn’t believe she’ll need to invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield her government’s bills from legal challenges.

“We will put forward a robust case — that this (legislation) is reasonable in a free, democratic society, that it’s evidence-based, and that we’re protecting children and their right to be able to make adult decisions as adults,” Smith said last week.

Smith has said it’s about preserving that adult choice, and that making “permanent and irreversible decisions” about one’s biological sex while still a child can limit that.

The bills also state parents will also have to opt in for their children to receive lessons in school on sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Transgender athletes will no longer be allowed to compete in female amateur sports, and sports organizations would be required to report eligibility complaints to the government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2024.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press