What's Gender Got to Do With It?

Jan Buterman isn’t a substitute teacher for the Greater St. Albert School district anymore. It’s not because Buterman is a bad teacher, or a pedophile or a Lutheran. Buterman is none of those things (except Lutheran, that is). Jan Buterman was removed from the substitute teacher list in 2008 because she decided that at the beginning of the new school year, she would no longer be Mrs. Buterman. Instead, she would be Mr. Buterman.

In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects Canadians from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This ruling set a legal precedent, meaning that people who are gay, bi-sexual, heterosexual, or metrosexual can’t be fired because of who they sleep with. Unfortunately, there are no laws about what to do in cases where gender identity comes into play. Transgender people are not protected by law, meaning that people like Jan Buterman can be fired because they have decided to make the transition from male to female, or female to male.

I understand parents might worry about the confusion their child might face if one of their teacher’s who was a “she” in June comes back as a “he” in September. However, having a transgender teacher makes no difference to the quality of a child’s education. There are good teachers and bad teachers, lazy teachers and earnest teachers. Gender isn’t a factor in any teacher’s ability to do their job correctly. Is your child’s teacher passionate about what helping people learn? Is your child’s teacher bright and engaged in their role in the classroom? Those are the things that matter when it comes to a child’s education. Most kids don’t care about their teacher’s gender. And if your child does have a problem with a teacher who has suddenly transitioned into a different gender? Than maybe it would be a good time to teach your kid about tolerance, acceptance and compassion. The transgender population in Canada doesn’t consist of three freaks sitting under a bridge somewhere. Although it’s impossible to track the amount of transgender people in Canada, there are plenty of active transgender communities in every province, which means eventually your kids will meet someone who is in the process of, or already has, changed from one gender to another. Would you want your child to act hostile or violently towards a transgender person? Or would you hope that you raised a child who is accepting of everyone, including people who might be different from them? What if it was your child who decided they were more comfortable as a boy even though they were raised as a girl? Would you want them to be shunned or fired from a job they loved?

Buterman’s transition from one gender to another shouldn’t be a topic of debate. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and feelings about that subject. However, a person’s job security should not rest on whether or not the general public approves of their personal life choices, as long as those choices are not illegal. Firing a teacher because they are transgender isn’t about what’s “best” for the kids and it’s not even about adhering to the Catholic church’s belief system. The Greater St. Alberta Catholic School district allowed Buterman to teach before, despite the fact that he is not Catholic. Did the school board not worry that Buterman would inflict his Lutheran beliefs on the poor, susceptible Catholic students? Firing Buterman is the school district’s way of saying they don’t accept Buterman’s life choices because they differ from their own. However, the Greater St. Alberta Catholic School district is not a privately-funded school district; it’s a public school district, which means the public has a say in the decisions made by the school board.

Buterman is clearly a person of character and integrity. He could have chosen to move to another town where no one had ever known him as a woman and started his life over again there. Buterman chose not to hide, not because he wanted to make life difficult for anyone or cause a scene but because he has a right to keep his job, whatever his gender may be. Why should Buterman hide? Buterman’s very public battle to fight for his rights sends a good message to the kids he used to be allowed to teach: stand up for yourself, no matter what others might think. By firing Buterman, the Greater St. Albert Catholic school district set a disturbing precedent for all school districts and the people who work in them.

Please note: The term “transgender” means different things to different people. Some people prefer the terms “transfolk,” “Gender Identity Disorder,” “Male-to-female” or “Female-to-Male.” In this column I use the term “transgender” as a blanket reference to all of those things not to be offensive, but for simplicity.