The trans high school teacher in Canada who is flaunting oversize prosthetic breasts will have to tone down her revealing wardrobe if school board members get their way.
Kayla Lemieux, a tech teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School in an upscale residential neighborhood roughly 25 miles west of Toronto, has garnered global attention after photos and video appeared on social media showing her eye-popping fake breasts.
Under pressure from fuming parents, the Halton District School Board (HDSB) issued a statement to explain that its hands are tied due to the province’s Human Rights Code.
And students seem to be behind the move. Several joined a small protest outside the school Friday, with one declaring: ‘This is a school, not a circus. We just want to learn.’
A motion was put forward at a school board meeting Wednesday to consider altering the dress code – which could mean that Lemieux may have to ditch the fabric-stretching prosthetic breasts, which sell online for as much as $1,000.
Transgender teacher Kayla Lemieux went viral when she was pictured wearing huge prosthetic breasts in the middle of shop class
DailyMail.com can reveal that school board members voted to consider implementing a dress code on Wednesday
At a meeting of the HDSB on Wednesday, trustee Tracey Ehl Harrison put forward a motion that ‘the director be requested to return to the board, by November 2022, a report addressing the various considerations regarding dress code’
‘The HDSB recognizes the rights of students, staff, parents/guardians and community members to equitable treatment without discrimination based upon gender identity and gender expression,’ the board said in a statement. ‘Gender identity and gender expression are protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code.’
Minutes before the final bell on Friday, a small group of protesters showed up at the end of the school’s driveway, shouting for school officials to ‘protect our children.’
Across the street, several people held signs that spelled out ‘Inclusivity is no excuse for depravity.’ One person held up a sign that said: ‘Teacher’s personal propaganda has no place in the classroom.’
Most of the students who spilled out of the school’s numerous exits left to start their weekends but a group of mostly senior grade students joined the protest.
Police officers, facing a crowd that swelled to nearly 100, escorted vehicles out of the school parking lot.
‘Thank you for speaking up for us,’ one male student shouted before being handed a megaphone. ‘This is a school not a circus! We just want to learn!’
Another student told the protesters he doesn’t go to school to be ‘distracted.’
‘It’s so crazy that nobody is doing anything.’
Students who joined the fracas said they are bound by a dress code that prohibits visible nipples or genitalia so they are left wondering why the same rules don’t apply to Lemieux.
One of the protest organizers blasted the human rights code for protecting ‘a man who dresses up as a woman who has size Z fetish fake boobs.’
‘What are we doing to our children to allow this?’ he asked the crowd.
Protesters from a faith-based group called Action 4 Canada called for the principal and school board trustees to resign for failing to protect students.
It appeared that Lemieux was taken out of the school to the driveway of an adjacent YMCA childcare facility, where she was driven away from the scene.
Protesters have vowed to keep fighting and are planning more demonstrations.
At a meeting of the HDSB on Wednesday, trustee Tracey Ehl Harrison put forward a motion that ‘the director be requested to return to the board, by November 2022, a report addressing the various considerations regarding dress code.’
Lemieux was pictured and recorded by students wearing the large prosthetics in class. The pictures have gone viral, with many criticizing the teacher’s attire
The prosthetics were so large they stretched her clothing and stuck out prominently (right)
The motion was approved unanimously.
Without naming Lemieux, Harrison spoke about messages she has received about the teacher’s appearance.
‘Some of them have been quite nasty from groups from far beyond the borders of Canada, described as hate groups,’ she said. ‘So it has been an interesting time to say the least.’
If a dress code is enforced, Lemieux may have to get rid of the breasts.
HDSB director of education Curtis Ennis reiterated at the meeting that the board is obligated to protect Lemieux.
‘As you are aware, a school in the Halton District School Board has received significant attention online in the news over the past several days,’ he read from a prepared statement.
‘Guided by our commitment in the multi-year strategic plan and our commitment to the human rights equity action accountability plan, The Way Forward, the Halton District School Board has aimed to handle this attention in a way that stays true to our values, respects the privacy and dignity of our students and staff, and with the safety and wellbeing of students and staff as our highest priority.’
‘As staff we are guided by numerous legislation and also fundamentally by the privacy and confidentiality of each of our 10,000 employees. While I understand the desire for information by the public, we will not and cannot publicly discuss any matter that identifies our staff directly or indirectly. I trust the public will understand the parameters that guide us.’
Lemieux is being protected at the school by both a private security firm and officers from the Halton Regional Police Service.
On Friday, a police SUV made the rounds of the school parking lot while another sat at the entrance to the property.
Students said the heavy police presence is more interesting than Lemieux’s heavy prosthetics.
‘It’s kind of nuts that we’re almost under lockdown just because of haters,’ complained Mark, a Grade 11 student, who said school officials ‘haven’t really talked about what’s going on except to tell us to report suspicious people on the grounds.’
One of his classmates, who did not give his name, said Lemieux was teaching for nearly two weeks without any fuss. ‘People were talking about it but it wasn’t really a big deal.’
Lemieux, like the school board who employs her, is keeping mum about the controversy. She did not respond to an interview request.
A lone protestor waving a Canadian flag (above) showed up to the school on Monday
Police were stationed at the Oakville Trafalgar High School on Thursday
Though the school’s online faculty directory – which it removed from public view last week – listed the teacher as ‘Kayla Lemieux,’ she remains identified as Kerry Luc Lemieux in the records of the Ontario College of Teachers, which certifies all teachers in the province.
Lemieux earned a teaching diploma from Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in 2002 and a diploma in education from Queen’s University in 2006. As all teachers are required to do, she successfully completed a Sexual Abuse Prevention Program.
Prior to working at Oakville Trafalgar High School, Lemieux was a tech teacher at Ancaster High School, about 31 miles west. According to public disclosure records, she earned a whopping $100,206.46 CAD (US $73,627) in 2020.
Parents and students at the high school appeared split on the issue.
Owen LaPlante, a 12th grader at the school, told the Toronto Sun that while some people support Lemieux, others are not comfortable with the situation.
‘I’m okay with it,’ he said. ‘I know some of my friends are a little uncomfortable with it, but I think she should be able to express herself however she wants to.’
Yuxuan Xie, a student in grade 10, told the Sun that most of the kids in school seem to have brushed the incident off.
‘I don’t really hear anyone talking about it,’ he said. ‘I think, maybe, we don’t care about that.’
A woman identifying herself as Lei, a mother of a senior at the school, told the Sun that while she was ok with Lemieux coming out as a trans woman, she said wearing such large prosthetics was too much.
‘I think he’s going a little too far,’ Lei said. ‘I think identifying himself is ok, but I think that just wearing that in the classroom… I still have concerns over that.’
