A report on the use of SOGI 123 in schools across B.C. finds that it has been effective in reducing violence and discrimination, even for heterosexual students.
The UBC Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre (SARAVYC) report shows that SOGI 123 decreased bullying and sexual orientation discrimination for all students.
SOGI 123 is a program that supports district and school-level champions as well as public resources on policies, inclusive strategies, and teaching content designed to reduce bullying and foster respect and inclusion for LGBTQ2 youth in schools.
It is not part of the curriculum but rather a guideline for teachers and parents to address these issues with students.
“Over the past 10 years, we found LGBQ+ youth were still more likely than heterosexual peers to face verbal harassment, social exclusion, and physical assaults at school,” study lead author Elizabeth Saewyc, a professor and executive director of the research centre, said in a statement.
She added that they were also much more likely to face discrimination because of their sexual orientation than heterosexual youth: 25 to 30 per cent vs. two to three per cent for heterosexual boys and girls.
However, Saewyc pointed out that while the smaller percentage may seem trivial, it should not be taken as such.
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“Because heterosexual boys are so much larger a group than gay and bisexual boys, the 2 per cent of heterosexual boys who reported discrimination because people thought they were gay actually outnumber the gay and bisexual boys who had faced discrimination each year,” she added.
“Anti-SOGI discrimination affects everybody, and schools and communities should take steps to address it.”
In September 2023, thousands of people across B.C. attended rallies both in support of and against the SOGI 123 curriculum being in public schools.
Called the 1 Million March 4 Children, those opposing gender-inclusive education wanted to organize events across Canada.
This September, turnout was sparse in comparison with previous years. Similar events were staged across Canada.
About 100 people protested in Surrey, while just a handful of people turned out in Coquitlam and Kelowna.
Protests failed to materialize in Victoria or Vancouver, though counter-protesters turned up.
Opponents claim the tools “sexualize” children and are a form of indoctrination.
“At a time when we are seeing anti-SOGI rhetoric and protests increasing in B.C. and elsewhere, we have also seen rates of sexual orientation discrimination rise among all girls, and remain high for LGBQ+ boys compared to 10 years ago,” Saewyc added.
“But where SOGI 123 or GSAs (or both) have been implemented, we have seen bullying and discrimination decrease—and the longer SOGI 123 and/or GSAs have been in a school, the greater their impact on reducing bullying or discrimination.”
GSA stands for Gender-Sexuality Alliance and is a student-run organization.
The study drew on data from the BC Adolescent Health Surveys from 2013, 2018, and 2023. It included 482 schools across 55 of the 60 school districts that participated in all three survey years, and captured the experiences of nearly 100,000 students, including more than 13,000 students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual/pansexual, or queer (LGBQ+).
The researchers compared how long SOGI 123 had been implemented in school districts as well as whether and how long a Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) had been established at each school, to tease out the separate impacts of both on bullying and discrimination.
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