After a new assault of which she was the victim, Kloé Guillemette decided to break the silence. She asks today the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to change things.
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The day of October 12, 2022 was too much for Kloé Guillemette.
A victim of bullying and harassment since she publicly announced the start of her transition two years ago, the 15-year-old trans teenager has been the victim of yet another attack.
“At the beginning, I was asked questions, the world was curious. People said to me: “what is that?” or “we’ve never seen that!”. Then, afterwards, it became meanness, intimidation, harassment, physical violence …”, explains Kloé in an interview with 24 hours.
“Most of the time it was gangs that came to me. They attacked me, they insulted me… Sometimes it was physical violence that got on board, I was beaten while others were filming the scene, laughing, shouting… It was always me against the rest of the school. There was never anyone to defend me.
If Kloé was able to count on the support of her family, she regrets the lack of reaction from her secondary school, the Pavillon Wilbrod-Dufour, which did nothing, according to her, to tackle the problem.
According to the teenager, only two of her attackers were punished, each receiving three days of exclusion.
Faced with a situation that had become unbearable, her parents had to take the decision to withdraw her from her educational establishment.
“Mr. Drainvile, we will have to work hard”
Kloé, who says she is much better today, now wants to tell what she has been through.
Because if the teenager feels “strong enough to hold on”, she is aware that some young people would not have this strength. She wants to ensure that stories like hers never happen again.
In interview at 24 hoursshe directly challenges Minister Bernard Drainville and asks him to change things.
“Mr. Drainville is simply to tell you that we will have to work hard (…). There is a lot to do in schools. We have to act, it becomes much more dramatic than we think. After what happened to me, many young people wrote to me to tell me that they too suffered from bullying in their school, ”laments the teenager.
For Kloé Guillemette, we must therefore start by raising awareness, because “if young people are made aware, there will be fewer inappropriate comments which can be considered normal for a cisgender person, but which can be very offensive for a transgender person. “.
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In addition, the teenager wants more dissuasive sanctions to be taken by educational institutions.
“When it comes to hitting a young person, that there are 30 people around, three days of suspension, it is very little. There have not even been any restorative gestures … We are in 2022 and it is time for people to understand that bullying is over, that it is zero tolerance!”
The minister’s response
Challenged by the strength of Kloé Guillemette’s testimony, we decided to share her message with the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville. The latter, touched in turn by the testimony of the teenager, decided to answer him directly, on video.
“I understand very well what you have been through and I find it appalling. I want you to know how unacceptable I find this. I take it very seriously”, he replies to Kloé in a video of more than 5 minutes transmitted to 24 hours.
“I find you brave to have spoken. By doing so, you ran the risk of more intimidation, more violence. But you decided to speak up because the situation you were experiencing was unbearable. Not only did you speak out, but you sparked a movement”, continues the minister in his video message.
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Bernard Drainville also shares his department’s commitments to fight against all forms of bullying against LGBTQ+ people.
“I want you to know that we have progressed within the school network in recent years (…) There is a new course that will emerge on Quebec culture and citizenship. In this course, there will be a part which will be devoted to the fight against homophobia, racism, or even transphobia,” he explains.
“I want you to know that there is a commitment from the Ministry of Education and the Minister to implement this course. It’s supposed to be next fall. There will be a place in this course for education and awareness. Maybe some teachers will even be able to draw on your personal experience to say “see what bullying and violence against trans people can do”.
Before concluding by encouraging Kloé to continue to be proud of who she is and to tell others, to tell society, “love yourself as you are”.
Support from community organizations
Kloé’s speaking out was also made possible by the support she received from organizations working to defend LGBTQ+ rights in Quebec. Forty of them mobilized to support and encourage the teenager by co-signing an open letter from the Fondation Émergence*, with the support of Dany Turcotte and Debbie Lynche-White.
This is particularly the case of the organization Entraide Trans Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and its president, Claude Amiot.
“Contrary to what one might think, the case like that of Kloé, there are everywhere in Quebec. It is not a regional phenomenon. Unfortunately, this is not a unique phenomenon. What is unique is the courage of Kloé”, she enthuses today.
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For meme Amiot, the reality of young people in the LGBTQ+ community, no matter where they live, is above all linked to their environment.
“First, it takes the support of parents, it’s the most important, in Alma as in Gatineau or Montreal. The only difference in the region is that there are not enough places to go out, to meet. It lacks a bit of safe spaces“, she summarizes.
It should be remembered that the story of Kloé is unfortunately not an isolated case. According to data from the 2020 Canadian Child and Youth Health Survey, 66% of sexual and gender diverse youth have been bullied in the past year.
*Signatories of the Fondation Émergence open letter: Laurent Breault (Fondation Émergence), Claude Amiot (Entraide Trans Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean), Roxanne Gervais (Diversity 02), Mona Greenbaum (Coalition of LGBT+ families), Julie Fortier (Abitibi-Témiscamingue Sexual Diversity Support Coalition), Miguel Deshaies (GRIS-Québec), Marie-Philippe Phillie Drouin (Divergenres), Catherine Liboiron (JAG, LGBT+ organization), Gabriel James Galantino (Research Chair on Sexual Diversity and Gender Plurality, University of Quebec at Montreal), Martin Blais (Department of Sexology and Holder of the Research Chair in Sexual Diversity and Gender Plurality, University of Quebec at Montreal), Marie Houzeau ( GRIS-Montréal), Janik Bastien Charlebois (department of sociology, University of Quebec in Montreal), Valérie Boyer (Le Néo), Mollie L-Schlachter (Dispensary), Marie-Claude Joannis (Diversity KRTB), Alexandre Dumont Blais (RÉZO) , Samuel Desbiens (Trans Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec), Guillaume Tremblay-Gallant (Portail VIH/sida du Québec), Naoufel Testaouni (QueerTech), Denis-Martin Chabot (Multidisciplinary artist), (The Hour when the rainbow sky rises; literary pride; Maison Plein Cœur), Stéphanie G-Dubé (Le PIaMP), Geneviève Ste-Marie (TransEstrie), Dylan Langlais (Dispensary; Amalgame Group), Joris Grail (RÉZO; Committee of Queer McGill), Yannick Fabre (Team Montreal, sports and leisure), Simon Gamache (Montreal Pride), Laura Cinelli (Inclusion sport; Trans Outaouais), Stéphanie Meunier (Youth Idem), Rébecca Janson (GRIS Estrie), Marion Bertrand-Huot (Quebec LGBT Council), Nicolas Bourgois (LGBTQ+ space) , Frederic Caron (RÉZO), Audrey Mantha (Lesbian Solidarity Center), Zach Abraham (RÉZO), Stéphanie Rousseau (RÉZO), Kim Forget-Desrosiers (ATQ), Shinri Deschamps (ATQ), Jasmin Roy (Fondation Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais ), Jean-Sébastien Bourré (author), Annie Pullen Sansfaçon (School of Social Work, University of Montreal), Fierté Trans Pride.