‘Protect trans kids’: Montreal demonstrators clash over LGBTQ2 policies in schools

The group calling itself '1MillionMarch4Children' says participants 'believe in safeguarding children from gender ideology teachings, sexual indoctrination and explicit content.'

Hundreds of protestors and counter-protestors clashed in downtown Montreal on Wednesday morning at the “1 Million March 4 Children” demonstration that took place in cities across the country.

As of 11:30 a.m., Montreal police said no arrests had been made despite the heated exchanges between groups that were for and against “gender ideology” in Canadian schools.

The march took place in front of Quebec Premier François Legault’s office near the McGill University gates on Sherbrooke Street West. Demonstrators held up signs that read “Protect trans kids,” “Then they came for the trans kids,” and “Stop disguising your hate as concern.”

Other posters countered with “Keep the innocence,” “Parents know better,” and “Leave our kids alone.”

Official event communications created by the group calling itself “1MillionMarch4Children” said participants “believe in safeguarding children from gender ideology teachings, sexual indoctrination and exposure to explicit sexual content.”

Quebec’s political class has been faced with questions about gender identity in schools recently after a Montreal school received threats after a nonbinary teacher asked to use the honorific Mx — pronounced Miks — and a school in the province’s northwest planned to provide gender-neutral bathrooms to students for the 2024-25 school year.

Quebec’s education minister Bernard Drainville said he wouldn’t convene a legislative committee on gender identity because he said doing so would expose the sensitive issue to political exploitation.

That came after Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon called on the government to hold legislative hearings to debate the recent controversies, saying schools risk being influenced by “radical left” ideas.