Julius Porciello described a nervous energy when he prepared to walk into his high school for the first time in years.
Returning to Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Academy in Keswick on Oct. 10, 2023, Porciello said it was difficult because of the trauma he had associated with the school. But he also felt some excitement.
As a person of trans experience, Porciello was about to get his high-school transcript with a legal name change, which he thought necessary to proceed with post-secondary education. As part of his transition, Porciello had decided to change all his documents to a new name.
At first, Porciello said things proceeded smoothly enough. He had pre-arranged to pick up the transcript and talked about his experience with the person in the guidance office.
But as he prepared to leave, he said the guidance worker asked if they could ask a personal question. Hopeful it could be an educational experience, Porciello agreed.
The guidance worker asked about his pronouns. Porciello explained them, but then things took a turn. He recounted exactly what the guidance worker said, having written it down shortly after it happened.
The guidance worker said they have a niece who is lesbian but does not agree with what she does — or what Porciello does. Porciello alleged that the worker discriminated against him and said they disagreed with how Porciello was living his life, and that it went against God's plan.
Porciello said he was in shock, and his heart was racing. But he said he told the worker it was discrimination — and then walked across the hall to the main school office to report it.
It was difficult, he said, but he felt a need to act in the moment.
“I did have a flash of my younger self,” Porciello said. “I just knew I had to stand up for little Julius that used to be at that school, and I just wanted to be the adult that I needed when I was younger.”
Porciello has filed a human rights tribunal case against the York Catholic District School Board regarding the incident and how the board responded. According to the filing, Porciello is seeking $50,000 in human rights damages, trans-specific training for staff with additional training for the guidance worker, and an order that the board develops policies to ensure that expectations of staff are clear and no one is subject to this type of discriminatory treatment going forward. The case is going to mediation later this month, Porciello said.
The 37-year-old said the board and several staff members worked with him in the months that followed the incident. The board does have an inclusive education policy.
Asked to respond, the board said in a statement, "York Catholic District School Board is committed to advancing equity and inclusion because we believe God loves all people. This filing is before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and to respect the integrity of that process, we cannot comment at this time."
Porciello said though individuals within the board treated him well, he was not satisfied with the board’s response to his case as a whole and felt like they were not doing enough regarding the guidance worker.
He said that in the process, it did not seem like they had his best interests in mind.
“It feels like people are showing up and doing their job, but it feels like they’re protecting the board,” he said.
A difficult journey
Porciello described a difficult experience growing up as someone with a trans experience in the Catholic school board system in the 1980s and '90s. He said there was a lot of suppression and oppression, resulting in him struggling with his grades.
He said he did not learn the words to express his identity, but knew he was different. Regardless, his gender expression was always more masculine, but he tried to participate in more feminine things in high school — which was when self-harm started happening, he said.
“I just felt very halted and held back because my identity wasn’t recognized or supported then,” he said. “I struggled a lot, and I think I fell through the cracks of the system.”
Porciello ultimately did not graduate with a high school diploma, and then went into the construction sector. It was only years after leaving school that he said he came to fully embrace and understand his identity. In the past five years, he said he was able to align with his gender identity and receive gender-affirming care.
“My journey has been a fight to get to where I am,” Porciello said. “But at the same time, healing.”
Porciello said he embarked on a journey to get all of his legal documents changed to his new name, as well as get his high school transcript in pursuit of a GED. But contacting the guidance office of his former high school caused some friction. His first interactions with the same guidance worker, whom he later alleged discriminated against him, were not pleasant.
Over the phone, the guidance worker said, "‘That wasn’t my name at the time I attended the school, so it probably can’t be changed,’” he alleged, adding that the guidance worker also said, “‘When girls get married, they don’t call the school asking to change their last names.'”
Still, Porciello said he worked through the process, and the worker eventually relented and understood that such a change is allowed. Porciello said he was prepared to show other legal documentation to back up the name change.
But things went awry when he came to pick up the new documents, Porciello said.
“'God has a purpose for us all. The sex that we are born at birth is the sex that we are, and that is that,'” Porciello alleged the worker said, adding that the worker also said they “disagree with how I live my life…that is not my purpose.’
“'I just think God has a better purpose for you than this,'” Porciello alleged the worker as saying.
Porciello went across the hall to the main office and said both the secretary and principal were kind, taking his concerns seriously and working to address the situation with him.
Still, he said, “I know they were supportive because of their own personal values. It had nothing to do with the school board’s values or how they operate. How they treated me wasn’t instilled with them in the board’s practices.”
In the coming weeks and months, Porciello said he filed a human rights complaint within the board’s own internal system. But he said it was an arduous process taking multiple meetings.
As Porciello’s case was processed, issues with the board’s equity policies were identified and adjusted, he said.
It came to a head Feb. 14, 2024, when Porciello said he was provided an investigation report. While he said it confirmed the in-person discrimination against him, Porciello added that he did not feel it sufficient enough with the training recommended for the worker. While he would have been able to meet with the director of education to discuss further options and possible recompense, Porciello said he did not feel comfortable after receiving the report.
“I didn’t feel great. I felt it was limiting. I felt like it didn’t say the most crucial items,” Porciello said. “To me, it wasn’t enough.”
Porciello escalated the matter to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, hoping to see the board do more in its policy to address discrimination. After several months of processing and time for a board response, the case will go to mediation later this month, and to a hearing after that if mediation does not work, Porciello said.
Seeing the board face controversy for not flying the Pride Flag during Pride Month despite other school boards doing so, Porciello said the board does not seem as committed to inclusion as it should be, and that the conversation empowers people like the guidance worker.
“I do think doing actions like that gives people like (the worker) the permission to talk to me the way she did, in a sort of way,” Porciello said.
Porciello’s lawyer, Marcus McCann, said he could not comment on the facts of the case. But he said school boards are certainly subject to the human rights code and that gender identity is protected.
“It is all too common for trans people to encounter discrimination in areas of public life where discrimination is prohibited,” McCann said. “That includes education.
“I do think people are rightly concerned, given the attempt to roll back progress (on trans protections) in the United States that are underway, that it will embolden people to behave badly on both sides of the border,” he added. “But as long as those remain code-protected categories in Ontario, we will fight discrimination everywhere that it occurs.”
Fighting for change
Pflag York Region has worked with school boards for years around equity and inclusion and was also helping the fight for Pride Flags at YCDSB. The non-profit advocacy group has also had a seat at the York Region District School Board’s (YRDSB) equity and inclusivity advisory committee.
Porciello has connected with the group, and president Tristan Coolman said his situation with YCDSB is terrible.
"It’s unfortunately an example of what a lot of folks in our community feel is happening, is actively happening, not just at the Catholic board but at school boards across the province,” Coolman said. “It is a reflection that there is a lack of training, competency training, a lack of policy and a lack of procedure.”
While he said Pflag was once had a good relationship with YCDSB, it has become fraught in recent years.
“They willingly shut off that resource to the community for its staff,” he said. “We’ve tried to have conversations … It’s very rare for a trustee to get in contact with us, and when they do so, they have to do so without informing their own colleagues because they feel like they’re going to be reprimanded.”
But LGBTQ+ discrimination is not exclusive to the Catholic board, Coolman said. The organization is now preparing to release its own reporting tool for both the YCDSB and York Region District School Board to document stories of discrimination and prepare an annualized report based on the findings.
“The biggest reason we’re going there is because collaboration just hasn’t really been there,” Coolman said, adding that navigating school board discrimination reporting systems, which are not publicly reported out on, has been difficult. “We hope it encourages them to further collaborate with organizations like us or to encourage a deeper look into what they should be doing to secure better school safety.”
Finding Affirmation
Despite the difficulties with YCDSB, Porciello said he has had some positives happen as he has received affirmation of his identity.
As the incident unfolded, Porciello talked about his experience in the Catholic school board system and his struggles due to his identity. After confiding with the principal that he came one half-credit short of graduating, he said the principal worked to get him his diploma — with his new name on it.
In hindsight, Porciello said it was strange he did not get his diploma in his youth for half a credit, and he felt like he was being looked down on at the time. But it was meaningful to get that document, he said.
“It was very healing to have someone of her position, a principal of the school that I experienced tremendous harm in repeatedly, being able to recognize my strengths in that moment and choose to stand up and do something that would help me,” he said. “There was healing that happened in that moment. I also appreciated that she didn’t use it as a way to close the discrimination that happened.”
Porciello worked for years in construction, believing that he was incapable of doing well in school. But he said he found his values were not being reflected in the sector and he wanted to go into something else.
Living out his identity, he applied and entered Seneca Polytechnic for its social worker program, where he currently studies at the King campus.
“I want to work with the trans community, the neurodivergent community,” he said.
Now learning with his identity affirmed, Porciello said he has been shocked by how well his studies are going for him compared to high school.
“I just wanted to be a proud, trans, autistic person, and see what would happen. I didn’t know what to expect,” he said, adding that “there’s still challenges, but I was able to shine academically.”
With that success, Porciello has become a peer tutour. He has also worked to try to improve things on campus, helping start a sensory-friendly study space with low light and elements like earplugs and fidget tools available to help neurodivergent people study, though it is also open to anyone.
“I’m a good advocate for myself, so I’d like to help others learn to find their voice, advocate for themselves,” he said.
Porciello said it is important for people to keep their own self-care and identity. He said the current legal system is based on people experiencing discrimination to have to know the laws and advocate for themselves.
“No one can take your identity away from you … You have every right to express yourself.
“If you are facing discrimination, although it can be taxing, there are avenues to stand up for yourself, and you do have rights,” he added. “It’s definitely a hard journey, and it’s exhausting.”
But aligning with his identity has helped, he said.
“What I’ve recognized, from my own journey, is the more I aligned with myself and my identities, the more I was able to be present in my life and the more I was able to contribute more to my society and my communities,” Porciello said. “When those identities were denied to me, it just caused suffering and anguish and suppression. I just shut down.”
NewmarketToday will follow this story with the outcome of the human rights tribunal case.