-
General
Vancouver B.C. – The third livestreamed event in the B.C. Human Rights Commissioner’s Beyond the Headlines conversation series will highlight how we discuss gender identity and expression with young people.
On Monday, Jul. 14 at 10:30 a.m. PDT, Commissioner Kasari Govender will sit down with Jessica Love, author and illustrator of Julián is a Mermaid, and Georgia Franklin, Provincial Coordinator of the BC Summer Reading Club, for a conversation about how we discuss gender identity and expression with young people in age-appropriate ways—and how we can help them take pride in their identities and celebrate those of others.
To open the conversation, Jessica Love will give a reading of Julián is a Mermaid.
Media and public are invited to watch the discussion via Zoom or livestreaming on the Commissioner’s website. Those who register and join the Zoom webinar will be able to ask questions during the event that may be answered live.
As described in the Commissioner’s landmark Rights in Focus report, released in 2024, students with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities routinely face discrimination in schools. While verbal and physical manifestations of transphobia and homophobia have declined in the last decade, a 2021 study cited in the report shows 62 per cent of LGBTQ2SAI+ students across Canada still feel unsafe at schools. Celebrating gender identity and expression—highlighting the joy of being one’s full self—is a powerful antidote to the hate and erasure faced by LGBTQ2SAI+ people, including youth.
WHO:
Kasari Govender, B.C.’s independent Human Rights Commissioner
Jessica Love, author and illustrator of Julián is a Mermaid
Georgia Franklin, Provincial Coordinator of the BC Summer Reading Club
WHAT: Beyond the Headlines: Celebrating gender identity and expression with Jessica Love and Georgia Franklin
WHEN: Monday, Jul. 14, 2025
10:30 – 11:30 a.m. PDT
WHERE: Via a Zoom webinar and streaming live via bchumanrights.ca/beyond-the-headlines
REGISTER: To register for the Zoom webinar, visit: https://tinyurl.com/Gender-Identity-Expression
Notes: To submit questions for the Commissioner or guests to answer, participants must register and join us via the Zoom platform.
When registering, please advise us of any accessibility or translation requirements you may have. We will work to accommodate you.
Beyond the Headlines resources
- Beyond the Headlines is a series of conversations with leaders and change makers about key issues facing people in British Columbia. Watch the first two Beyond the Headlines episodes:
- Housing and Human Rights with Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate
- Migrant Workers’ Rights with Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General for Amnesty International Canada’s English-Speaking section
- The Rights in Focus report, from which Beyond the Headlines topics are drawn, describes 10 key systems impacting human rights in British Columbia. The experiences of LGBTQ2SAI+ students were highlighted in the Inequities in the Education System section. To learn more about the report, visit: baseline.bchumanrights.ca/in-focus
- Julián is a Mermaid was the Commissioner’s Book Club pick for preschool-aged children in March 2025. To learn more about the book club and find current and past selections and discussion guides, visit: bchumanrights.ca/book-club
This media release is also available as a PDF (232KB).
– 30 –
Media contact
To request an interview with Commissioner Kasari Govender, please contact Lindsey Bertrand, Manager, Communications, at or 604-306-7369.
Media kit
Visit our media kit for images of Commissioner Kasari Govender, pronunciation guidance, bios and more.
About BCOHRC
BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner exists to address the root causes of inequality, discrimination and injustice in B.C. by shifting laws, policies, practices and cultures. We do this work through education, research, advocacy, inquiry and monitoring. Learn more at: bchumanrights.ca
About the Commissioner
Kasari Govender began her work as B.C.’s first independent human rights commissioner in September 2019. As an independent officer of the Legislature, Commissioner Govender is uniquely positioned to ensure human rights in B.C. are protected, respected and advanced on a systemic level. In her first five-year term, her work through BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner included a public inquiry into experiences of hate in the pandemic, a report on systemic discrimination in policing, community embedded research about a range of human rights issues experienced by British Columbians, public awareness campaigns about ableism and racism and guidance to government that, among other things, informed the creation of both the Anti-Racism Data Act and the Anti-Racism Act. Commissioner Govender was reappointed for a second term beginning in September 2024.
About Jessica Love
Jessica Love is the author and illustrator of Julián is a Mermaid, Julián at the Wedding, and A Bed of Stars, published by Candlewick Press, and the illustrator of I Love You Because I Love You by Mượn Thị Văn, Will It Be Okay? by Crescent Dragonwagon, Gaga Mistake Day by Emma and Susan Straub, The Poet and the Bees by Amy Novesky and Little Passenger by Deirdre Sullivan. Jessica grew up in Southern California, raised by a pair of artist parents. She studied printmaking and illustration at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and then went on to study Drama at Juilliard. After working as an actor in New York for ten years, she made a pivot and created Julián is a Mermaid, her first book. Jessica lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and their son.
About Georgia Franklin
Georgia Franklin is the Provincial Coordinator for the BC Summer Reading Club, a free, inclusive literacy program offered through public libraries, connecting young people with stories, resources and community. Georgia is based out of the traditional and unceded homelands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, where she is currently an MLIS candidate at UBC’s School of Information. She has an extensive background in public libraries, working for over a decade at the Vancouver Public Library, most recently in the Accessible Services department.
Follow us
Get the latest human rights news from us on Twitter/X (@humanrights4BC), Instagram (@humanrights4BC), Facebook (facebook.com/HumanRights4BC) and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/HumanRights4BC)