School LGBTQ resources become an issue in British Columbia's snap election

In late September 2026, the future of SOGI 123 school resources on sexual orientation and gender identity became an issue in the campaign for a snap election in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Voting is set for October 24. The Conservative Party of British Columbia and OneBC have promised to remove the resources from schools, while the governing New Democratic Party (NDP) says it will continue efforts to prevent bullying and discrimination against LGBTQ students.

Premier and NDP leader David Eby called the election on September 22, two years ahead of schedule. He cited the trade conflict with the United States and the need for a new mandate to protect the provincial economy. As the Associated Press reported , the campaign is taking place amid leadership changes and splits on the political right. The official Elections BC website confirms that election day is October 24.

SOGI 123 is not a separate compulsory subject or a stand-alone curriculum. It is a set of resources developed with the participation of the education ministry for teachers, covering school policy, inclusive environments and discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. British Columbia’s government says that schools and teachers choose specific resources themselves, while remaining bound by curriculum standards and anti-discrimination rules.

Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson said his party would repeal SOGI 123 and refocus classrooms on reading, writing and mathematics if it wins. OneBC, led by Dallas Brodie, has likewise made removing SOGI 123 from classrooms one of its priorities. Supporters of this position invoke parents’ authority over their children’s upbringing and argue that schools should not give ideological treatment to questions of sex and gender.

Eby, by contrast, said the NDP would not abandon anti-bullying work and stressed teachers’ role in supporting students. In a comparison of party positions published by CBC and republished by Yahoo News , the NDP presents SOGI as a matter of school safety, not medical decisions or a separate sex-education course. The provincial education ministry also says the resources do not promote any particular identity and are intended to prevent discrimination.

The broader debate was prompted by a September 28 opinion column in Xtra . Its author, Mel Woods, argues that Canadian centre-left parties often limit themselves to general statements of support for trans people and risk ceding the initiative to their opponents. This is the author’s assessment, not the finding of an opinion poll. The column appeared ahead of a series of October votes: in addition to British Columbia’s election, the Government of Canada’s official calendar lists Quebec’s provincial election on October 5 and municipal elections in several provinces.

Urania previously reported on the legal dispute over housing transgender women in Canadian women’s prisons and on openly gay Éric Duhaime leading the Conservative Party of Quebec into the provincial election .