By Rebel News | Created at 2025-01-22 00:41:18 | Updated at 2025-02-02 00:13:32
1 week ago
Students and parents alike at Pleasant Valley Secondary School in Armstrong, British Columbia, were shocked to discover that all sex-based bathrooms in the school had been abruptly locked, forcing students to only have access an expanded number of gender-neutral options.
The decision was met with pushback almost immediately, as many students felt uncomfortable and unsafe sharing such an intimate space with the opposite sex.
“To me, a washroom is a private place,” Josh Ellis, a father of a teen girl who came home distraught to use the washroom the first day the change was made, told Rebel News in frustration.
According to Josh and his wife, Jolene Ellis, their daughter built up enough courage to use a gender-neutral bathroom to relieve herself the following day, only to be harassed by a group of teen boys who pounded on her stall door while she had her pants down — a frightening situation that left their daughter in tears.
Forcing students into such situations even contradicts the School District 83's own SOGI 123 (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) guidelines.
The SOGI guidelines for washrooms state: “All students have the right to safe washrooms and change room facilities” and that “students have the right to use the washroom and change room in which they are most comfortable.”
In today’s report, we hear from Josh and Jolene Ellis about the ordeal, the condescending response they say they received from the district’s superintendent, Donna Kriger, and why they're not buying the school’s latest excuse following pushback for what they call a gender-neutral experiment.
Drea Humphrey
B.C. Bureau Chief
Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.
