After last week’s Canada-wide street protests pitting parental rights advocates against transgender champions, context can be illuminating. Light can be shed, for example, by recalling the way activists and strategists for the gay rights movement employed a brilliantly effective two-tiered tactical approach to gain victory in the pursuit of same-sex marriage a quarter century ago.

There are several themes that emerge from watching the 1 Million Person March 4 Children in Ottawa on Sept. 20. Organized by Kamel El-Cheikh, an Ottawa-based Muslim father, this community was galvanized into action when a teacher in Edmonton criticized a Muslim student who had been absent for Pride activities in June. The audio recording went viral, largely because the teacher’s conclusion was that without agreement on issues of gender and sexuality, the student doesn’t belong in Canada. If that doesn’t galvanize protest, I don’t know what will. And it did.

Hundreds of parents, grandparents, kids and parental rights activists participating in the 1 Million March 4 Children stood in front of the Harry Hays Building in downtown Calgary today, brandishing signs declaring, “leave our kids alone” and “education, not indoctrination.”

An Ontario court delivered a key legal victory to Josh Alexander, the St. Joseph’s High School student from Pembroke, Ont., suspended for alleged bullying by stating in a class discussion that God created only two genders, male and female. 

Canada’s Federal Court may have unwittingly brought us to peak gender pronoun nonsense. We can only hope — or better yet pray — for a return to earth it puts our feet back on sensible ground.

A divide among York Catholic school stakeholders made its way down to the student body when a June 8 walkout to protest the board not flying the Pride flag turned violent at a Markham, Ont., school.

“First Gender Equity Manitoba Grant will be Awarded to Pride Winnipeg to Support Permanent Staffing, Expand Pride Activities across Province,” reads the May 25 press release.

A Renfrew, Ont., student barred from his Catholic high school for saying there are only two genders, male and female, said he remains undeterred and will continue to stand up for his religious convictions.

A spokesman for Scotland's Catholic Church has welcomed the British government's veto of legislation allowing teenagers to change their legally documented sex via a simple self-declaration, and criticized Scottish politicians' "obsession with gender politics."

Catholic bishops in Australia have released guidelines for the country's almost 2,000 Catholic schools on gender, urging school leaders to resist pressure to adopt the "dominant rhetoric around gender."

I don’t need to tell you that gender confusion is rampant among our youth today. Only 10 years ago, when I would ask an audience of adults or youth, everyone knew someone who was same-sex attracted, but no one knew someone who was experiencing gender dysphoria or identified as “trans.” Now everyone knows some young person fairly close to them in that situation: a son, daughter, nephew, niece, grandchild. Why?

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has informed Italy that a draft law to fight homophobia and discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity could violate the freedom of Catholics to teach and practice their faith.

The House of Representatives passed the Equality Act in a 224-206 vote Feb. 25.

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's bishops called on Catholics to show respect for people connected with the LGBT movement, but urged them to resist LGBT calls for a "social and cultural transformation" in conflict with church teaching.

GENEVA -- A United Nations report addressing gender-based violence and discrimination connected to religious beliefs "is now attacking the very reality it is called to defend," a Vatican representative told a U.N. meeting in Geneva.