Could Vancouver's real-estate crash really be down to a new school board policy that supports transgender students? That's the claim put forward by two school board trustees in the city - and it's one that sent ripples through the Chinese community and had immediate political ramifications. A recent press conference was held in one of the city's Chinese restaurants by Sophia Woo and Ken Denike, who claimed foreign buyers had become concerned about plans to pass a policy giving gay and transgender students more support. "We've received calls from senior people in the real-estate industry expressing real concerns about the policy," says Denike. The trustees say they've been told by parents and realtors that if the policy goes through, Chinese families - who provide much-needed tuition fees to the public-school system - may send their children to other districts or private schools. What appears to have alarmed some Chinese parents is the issue of gender-neutral toilets. One father, who refused to give his name, said, "If you have a daughter in school, in the bathroom and another male-female you don't know is right next to her, how do you feel? Is it fair for my daughter to go to the school and maybe a man, maybe a female, goes into the school washroom?" Within hours of the press conference, Woo and Denike's political party, the Non-Partisan Association, expelled the two trustees from caucus, saying they did not represent the same values as others in the party. One parent, who is supportive of the new policy, explained how her own child was confused about her sexuality and finally she told the school principal that she wanted to be a boy. Fiona Chen says her son, now 11, suffered from not being able to express his identity and she doesn't want other students to have to hide who they really are. "In my culture, they just don't talk about homosexuality," she says. "The Christian missions in Hong Kong, China - with all their good intentions - they tell people that being gay or lesbian [makes them] sinners." At a subsequent school board meeting, in which the policy was approved, opponents and supporters turned out to express their views. Roan Reimer, a 17-year-old student who identifies himself as gay and gender-varying, said school was a tough environment. "I spent months using only the washroom in the basement of my school, where no one ever goes … so I wouldn't get yelled at for using the wrong washroom." Since 2004, the Vancouver school board has officially supported students and staff who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender queer or questioning. Now the Vancouver school board and the Vancouver park board are going even further. Students can choose the name and pronoun they will be addressed by and gender-neutral washrooms are being installed in parks and schools.