SOGI 123 is staying in schools, despite claims from the BC Conservatives.
“We are committed to this work, and we are not going anywhere as SOGI 123 initiatives through ARC,” said Aditi Loveridge, executive director, The ARC Foundation.
The program, developed by the Arc Foundation 10 years ago, offers resources to educators to help create a safe, inclusive learning environment for students of all sexual orientations.
But provincial funding for the foundation has dried up.
“All provincial funding did conclude at the end of the 2025 school year. Since then, we’ve worked to address the funding shortfall, and we’ve had to make some difficult decisions including recent reduction in staffing.”
The Ministry of Education confirms in a statement that SOGI has not been removed, as resources for schools will continue to be made available.
Despite that, the BC Conservatives, who have long called for an end to SOGI, are calling the funding cuts a win.
“Celebrating the closure or lack of funding for a program that supports our most vulnerable students is not welcome in our community,” said Anne Whitmore, parent and Surrey education advocate.
Whitmore says those against SOGI are in the minority and that spreading misinformation and political rhetoric could create a harmful environment for students.
“When we have a party in government who is actively taking a stance against vulnerable populations, they’ve run this on their platform, and then we have extremist groups who are using that to further their own causes, I think we have dangerous things happening in the environment where students are meant to be safe.”
Out in Schools, which delivers LGBTQ+ education presentations through films, says it’s also seeing fewer requests from schools.
“We’ve had schools where we used to have consistent contacts and book us every year either move or have admin change and no longer have support,” said Danny Lybberty, manager, Out in Schools.
“We’ve had schools change how they’re doing inclusive education. Lots of educators are afraid of pushback from parents, pushback from community. Queer students are also having more difficulties with their peers being more anti-LGBTQ.”
A 2024 UBC study found that the existence of SOGI 123 helped reduce bullying, including for heterosexual students.
