The Number of Albertans Who Still Support Transitioning Children is Shocking

Instagram / trans.rights.yeg

Last month, the government of Alberta used the notwithstanding clause to protect three pieces of trans-related legislation from legal challenges launched by activist organizations. If you would like an overview of the legislation, I wrote about it last year when it was first announced. I have also written about the two activist organizations involved, Eagle and Skipping Stone, and what I found isn't pretty. With the help of large amounts of federal government funding, especially in the case of Egale, these organizations are staunch advocates for the transitioning of children, for pushing gender ideology in schools, and for other trans related policies like allowing men to compete in women's sports—all areas that the government’s legislation is meant to address.

But the government is fighting back so that it can move ahead with this legislation, and many, including myself, support its actions. However, a not-so-small number of people are losing their minds over it and accusing Danielle Smith and the UCP of hatred and authoritarianism. I've seen Danielle Smith called a Christian Nationalist—because the only way you could propose sensible policies like allowing children to grow up whole and safeguarding women's sports is if you're coming from a place of religious intolerance. If that makes one a Christian Nationalist, count me in.

I know I shouldn't be, but I've really been surprised by the number of people who are so vehemently against the legislation, and in particular by their fervor. This legislation doesn't even seek to curtail adult transition. In fact, the Premier has stated that she'd like to attract more medical experts in this area to the province. This legislation does, however, seek to curtail the right of trans-identified men to do anything they want, all the time, and for trans activists, that's a huge problem. It also makes it harder to target children, and that's a very huge problem.

So no, I shouldn't be surprised, but I guess I've been a little insulated from such people lately. My real life and online circles are all in support of the legislation, and it's more common now to come across stories about the transitioning of minors or men in women's sports and see them widely criticized—or at least that's what the algorithm had been showing me.

But after the government announced its use of the notwithstanding clause, my X feed was suddenly inundated with Albertan progressives raging against it. There are many of them, and they are loud. I honestly didn't even think these people spent much time on X anymore, but I guess we do all get really enmeshed in our own little pockets of the conversation.

It was almost inconceivable to me to see just how many people (and of course, the ones online are only a small sample of all of them), in 2025, are still so invested in the medical transition of children. I scrolled through endless posts about what a terrible human rights violation it is to not allow children to pause and alter the course of their development. Some also spared words for how unconscionable it was to no longer allow men into women's sports, but the focus was on the insistence that children must have the right to make decisions that could completely alter their future sexual function and fertility—if not totally obliterate it.

The fact that these people can't even conceive that the legislation and the support for this legislation could be born from anything other than pure hate is also a constant source of disbelief for me. To hear concerns about these children’s futures and to completely brush those concerns off is an incredible display of cognitive dissonance. If these people could entertain for one moment that such concerns might have some merit, then they would be horrified. But they can’t begin to entertain these thoughts because to do so would be to go against their political side and to briefly take the viewpoint of their political opponents. Making sure they don’t sympathize with the enemy is more important than considering what is best for children.

I’m not saying that anyone who briefly takes my viewpoint would necessarily come to agree with me completely. On this issue, I think most would, because what is happening is so egregious and, in real life, when people actually hear me out, they do come to agree. But I’m sure there would be some holdouts, most especially parents who believe they have a “trans” kid and who would have to admit they’ve harmed their child if they changed their view.

Still, I can’t help but believe that if those who are so upset at Danielle Smith could at least bring themselves to admit that, hey, we all just want what’s best for kids here, then they could at least speak intelligently about things like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. But they can’t. I have not seen one single advocate of transitioning children with the ability to discuss these “treatments” in anything approaching a sensible or honest manner. All they can ever really seem to come up with as an argument is the line that “puberty blockers are reversible,” so let's dissect that for a minute.

For the sake of argument, let's allow them to have this claim. Let's allow them to get away with saying that “puberty blockers are reversible” despite concerning evidence that they harm sperm production and lower IQ. Let's entertain the idea that if a child goes off these drugs, then they will resume normal puberty and no harm will be done.

Okay… so what? That’s not pertinent to the conversation at all. Trans activists argue that “trans kids” should not go through their natural puberty—that “forcing” them to go through the puberty of their sex would be abusive and lead to increased rates of suicide. The whole point of calling a kid “trans” is so that they can progress from puberty blockers on to cross-sex hormones, which are not reversible in any sense of the word, no matter how generous you want to be. And, in fact, kids who receive the “trans” label do progress from puberty blockers to cross-sex hormones virtually 100% of the time, at least according to UK data.

This is, of course, exactly what trans activists want, or else they would not be painting Danielle Smith as the devil for trying to preserve the choices of minors. But they also know that if they came right out and said they support permanently damaging the sexual function of minors if those minors claim a trans identity, it would not go over as well with the uninformed public. So they hide behind the theoretical reversibility of puberty blockers while at the same time fighting laws that would actually allow children to sexually mature.

Sadly, most of the people protesting these laws and the use of the notwithstanding clause aren't thinking that deeply about the issue. They just know that slogans like “listen to trans kids!” and “puberty blockers are reversible!” sound nice, and they consider themselves to be nice people, so they say these things. They also know that Danielle Smith is evil (she's the leader of the conservative party after all, so her evilness is just a given), and so it must be nice to be against whatever she supports.

And so, you end up with a bunch of people shockingly passionate about halting the sexual maturation of children, allowing those children to take levels of cross-sex hormones that would never naturally be found in their bodies, and having access to surgeries that would destroy whatever sexual function and fertility they had left (which would generally be none, by that point). I am not being ungenerous. If this is not what they support, then they would not have such a problem with the legislation, as it aims to safeguard against all that.

I do understand people who oppose the legislation because they don’t think it is the role of government to get involved in medical decisions. I largely agree with this, but I make an exception for what I think is one of the largest medical scandals in history. Regardless, trans activists are, by and large, not motivated by this perspective. They simply want children to have the option to medicalize.

Alberta may be leading the way in the pushback against gender ideology, but because of that, our government has also inspired a fervent backlash and had a galvanizing effect on the opposition. It's an important reminder not to get complacent. These people are out there in numbers that shocked me and with a passion that I don't think is going to burn out any time soon. But that's alright, because it will just inspire us to fight harder.