Rapping Alberta mom blasts transgender student guidelines, raises international eyebrows

An Alberta mom's rap video that blasts the province's new guidelines for accommodating transgender students in schools is attracting attention well beyond the provincial borders.

"Can we pick another issue / than to change our bathrooms for a few?" the mother raps in the semi-professionally produced video, filmed in a studio with panning cameras against a black backdrop.

She goes on to rhyme: "I am a concerned mother of three / Keep male and female washrooms where our children can pee."

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The song is titled "Gender Bender by M H Wiebe," and the video (which has settings preventing it from being embedded in this story) links to a website that describes Alberta's new transgender guidelines as "illegal."

Education Minister David Eggen has given school boards a deadline of March 31 to submit draft policies based on the guidelines.

The changes, which would give students more autonomy over their gender expression in schools, including choice in change rooms and washrooms, have been supported by major school boards like the Calgary Board of Education but some Calgary parents still have reservations.

The rules have been met with opposition from smaller boards, including the Fort Vermilion School Division, as well as fierce criticism from Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, who described the policy as "totalitarian" and "anti-Catholic."

Meanwhile, staff with New York-based Mic, an online news magazine with more than 1.5 million Facebook followers, noticed the video Wednesday, which they shared online and described as "offensive" to both transgender people and hip-hop, itself.

James West, senior digital editor for Mother Jones magazine, also expressed his fascination with the video.

New York Times reporter Liam Stack also wondered whether the video depicts how hip-hop works north of the border.

CBC News has reached out to the rapping mom to confirm her identity and hometown, and get comment but has yet to receive a reply.

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