Closing arguments begin in challenge to Ontario’s repeal of sex-ed curriculum

Lawyers for a transgender girl fighting the Ontario government’s repeal of a modernized sex-ed curriculum say the scrapped version of the lesson plan should be reinstated.
In closing arguments at the province’s human rights tribunal, the lawyers say the previous version of the curriculum introduced in 2015, which specifically taught students about gender identity, should be brought back while a new document is developed.
They say the tribunal should also order the Progressive Conservative government to ensure any new curriculum is compliant with Ontario’s human rights code.
The legal team argues the government has discriminated against their 11-year-old client — a sixth-grader identified only as AB — by removing gender identity lessons from the current curriculum that’s based on a version from 1998.
Ontario government lawyers have argued that the curriculum introduced last fall does not discriminate against students, saying teachers can expand on what’s required by the document.
The tribunal is expected to decide on the case in the spring.