Hockey coaches, trainers, and even managers now have to undergo transgender training according to the Ontario Hockey Federation’s new rules.
All Ontario minor league hockey personnel must attend classes to better understand how transgenders, as well as anyone whose gender identity or chosen gender expression is different than their birth gender, are discriminated against according to the Huffington Post. The course also offers a guide on navigating its 2016 dressing room policies.
“It provides information on gender itself, explaining what gender identity is and what makes up gender identity and expression,” the Ontario Hockey Federation executive director Phillip McKee said. “It provides information on how to provide an inclusive environment. There also an implementation guide that’s been provided on our website as far as dressing room implementation and what you can do in that situation,” he added.
Coaches must complete two online courses within a month of joining a team’s staff, and failing to do so will prohibit them from registering with the hockey league. “It’s something new in our society we’re just not used to, and it’s good information to have if that situation were to arise,” Ontario coach Tyler Tolton said.
“This is a model that was based out of an Ontario Human Rights Commission settlement and applies only to Ontario,” McKee noted. He did say that if the reaction to the course is a positive one, it is not unlikely that the Canada’s National Hockey Federation will adopt the required course.
The changes come after the transgender player Jesse Thompson filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in 2013. In response to his complaint, the league amended its dressing room policy last year to allow athletes to use whichever dressing room corresponds with their preferred gender.
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