UVic “trans affirming” parents lecture demonizes Alberta, parental rights

A professor from Concordia University recently gave a lecture at the University of Victoria detailing her research, which focused on interviewing dozens of “trans-affirming parents."

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Author: Alex Zoltan

A professor from Concordia University recently gave a lecture at the University of Victoria detailing her research, which focused on interviewing dozens of “trans-affirming parents” about their experiences and feelings.

Kimberley Manning, a professor of political science and women’s studies at Concordia University, presented the talk titled “Good Parenting: What Parent Advocates of Trans Kids Can Teach Us.” The hybrid event, held on November 25, 2025, included in-person attendance and online access via Zoom.

According to promotional materials from the University of Victoria’s School of Child and Youth Care, Manning’s research focuses on gender and politics in the People’s Republic of China and Canada, with a specific interest in the advocacy of Canadian parents of transgender children and youth.

She has previously published on topics including parent activism for trans kids, media discourse on trans youth, and the rights of trans children in journals such as the Canadian Journal of Political Science and Feminist Media Studies.

Manning’s lecture and underlying study drew on a preliminary analysis of interviews with 62 “affirming” parents across Canada—those who support their children’s gender nonconformity.

The research aimed to contrast the views of the parental rights movement, which “seeks to control young people’s gender nonconformity,” with those of affirming parents who “see parenting as centred on relationships.”

The presentation opened with a three-minute video clip featuring a land acknowledgment for the lək̓ʷəŋən and Xʷsepsəm peoples, along with “two-spirit people” more generally. In the segment, a First Nations spokesperson in traditional dress stated, “Since time immemorial, two-spirit children have always existed,” adding, “Our role as adults is to protect two-spirit and trans children.”

Following a brief introduction by a fellow academic, Manning delivered her PowerPoint presentation, noting collaboration with an international team of five researchers, including “both cisgender and non-binary scholars.”

An early slide, titled “The Current Political Context,” featured a map of Canada illustrating “anti-trans legislative risk” as of July 2025. Provinces were colour-coded from red (highest risk) to blue (lowest), with Alberta marked in dark red and flagged with a warning icon to denote the province with the greatest risks.

“While much of the literature on the relationship between gender-diverse children and their parents focuses on the role caretakers play in their child’s development, fewer studies explore how parents themselves are changed by their experiences,” Manning’s abstract states. “Addressing this gap, we explored how advocacy for gender-diverse children reshapes the lives of affirming parents, fostering deeper kinship bonds and a broader understanding of human diversity and struggle.”

Manning, who previously served as principal of Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute, has been involved in trans advocacy since 2011. This includes co-founding a non-profit for parents of gender non-conforming children and testifying before the Canadian Senate in support of Bill C-16, which added protections for gender identity and expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act in 2017.

The event was supported by UVic’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Lansdowne and included a meet-and-greet session the day prior.