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Canadian Political Science Association2024 Annual Conference Programme
Approaches, Knowledges, and Methods
for the World of Tomorrow
Hosted at McGill University
June 12 to June 14, 20242024 Annual Conference Programme
Approaches, Knowledges, and Methods
for the World of Tomorrow
Hosted at McGill University
June 12 to June 14, 2024
Women, Gender, and Politics
N17 - Roundtable: Parent Politics and Trans Youth: Contesting the Anti-Gender Ideology Movement
Date: Jun 14 | Time: 10:15am to 11:45am | Location: Concordia University, Simone de Beauvoir Institute classroom, 2155 Guy Street, 6th Floor, Room 672
Chair/Président/Présidente : Kimberley Manning (Concordia University)
Marc Lafrance (Concordia University)Florence Ashley (University of Alberta)
Samuel Singer (University of Ottawa)
Francesco MacAllister-Caruso (Concordia University)
Abstract: Despite their critical role in advocating for the rights of transgender youth, parents of gender-diverse children remain understudied in the contemporary literature on Canadian politics. As debates over affirming policies for gender-diverse youth in primary and secondary schools spread across the country, there is a pressing need for scholarship that can speak to the ways in which these understudied actors influence the political process. This roundtable will draw on the collective experience of a multidisciplinary team of scholars who have been working over the past decade to advance the well-being of transgender and nonbinary youth in Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland. Complementing participants’ past advocacy experience and research, the roundtable will offer an opportunity to present preliminary findings from interviews with 55 parents who advocate for their transgender, nonbinary, or Two-Spirit children (aged 4-26) in Canada. Using content analysis, this study will elucidate the social and political mobilization strategies used to contest discourses on “parental rights” which often serve as a dog whistle for anti-trans policies in schools.