Days after the provincial government released plans to introduce legislation to guarantee recourse for students wanting to form gay-straight alliances in schools, that legislation was rolled out, and passed first reading.

Bill 10, the Act to Amend the Alberta Bill of Rights to Protect our Children passed first reading in the Legislature late Monday evening.

The piece of legislation was billed as a package against bullying, and would give students recourse to form gay-straight alliances by appeal, if they are not initially allowed.

Under the legislation, if a student is not allowed to create any school club, including a gay-straight alliance, the student can appeal to the school board, and then to the Court of Queen’s Bench.

“This bill is aimed to ensure that in situations where those students aren’t’ supported, that the students, the parents and their advocates have a clear mechanism to challenge that position,” PC MLA Sandra Jansen said Monday.

The legislation also scuttles Bill 202, a private member’s bill, which would have made it mandatory for school boards to develop policies supporting such school clubs.

Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman was pushing for Bill 202, and on Monday she accused the provincial government of dirty politics, saying the Progressive Conservatives did everything they could to block her bill.

“Well, we’ve had the most extraordinary example of democracy derailed, of this government, honestly, lower than a snake’s belly,” Blakeman said Monday.

Bill 10 also contains a provision that would allow parents the right to make informed decisions on their children’s education, giving parents the choice to opt out of instruction, and also the right to appeal.

“My view is that it is not up to the government or the state to teach morality to the child that is up to the parents” Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said Monday.

Upon royal assent, Bill 10 would amend Alberta’s Bill of Rights, the Alberta Human Rights Act, the School Act and the yet-to-be-proclaimed Education Act.

CTV News spoke with Kris Wells, with the Institute of Sexual Minority Studies about Bill 10, he expressed concern over the lack of consultation on the bill and said it doesn’t go far enough on gay-straight alliances.

With files from Serena Mah