Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong on April 17, 2025.
Image Credit: Legislative Assembly of BC
April 21, 2025 - 6:00 PM
A controversial Okanagan MLA posed questions in the legislature in Victoria during question period last week regarding gender identity.
Tara Armstrong was elected as a BC Conservative in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream in October and left the party to sit as an Independent with another Conservative MLA who had been ousted from the party for making fun of residential school survivors.
Her questions in the legislature April 17 appeared to be part of her fight against transgender health care and ideology. She told the house that gender affirmation care is harmful and irreversible.
“Will this Premier finally ban the brainwashing, sterilization and mutilation of our precious children by these so-called medical professionals?” Armstrong said.
BC NDP Deputy Premier and Attorney General Niki Sharma took Armstrong's question and condemned her remarks.
“I want to send a message to all queer, trans and two-spirit people in this province that we stand with you and we see you and we on this side of the house are going to fight for an inclusive society for all people,” Sharma said.
“There can be no simple yes or no to the type of hate that was just raised in this house right now. The type of hate that seeks to deny an identity of people and seeks to create this cloud of fear and mistrust and misinformation about what that identity is in this province.”
READ MORE: Okanagan Conservative MLA now representing her riding as an Independent
Armstrong told iNFOnews.ca in an emailed statement that she has heard from her constituents and she claimed they are concerned about sexual orientation and gender identity education in schools and gender affirming care.
There are numerous studies that have found gender affirming care has benefits. There are jurisdictions around the world that have different bans on different kinds of gender affirming care for youth including in the UK.
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