Category: Human Rights
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Mechanisms for Conclusions
They deny proven geoscience techniques, but only when applied to paleoclimatology because it shows climate change exists. They don’t question that same science when it finds the oil with which to fuel their cars or the metals to manufacture their phone. They oppose puberty blockers, but only for trans youth. They didn’t even know cisgender…
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Canadians less accepting of gender and sexual minorities: poll
Ipsos released the results of a poll that queried Canadians on their attitudes towards sexual and gender minorities. Overall, Canadians are less accepting compared to 2021. This drop was mirrored in Angus Reid polling data about Canadian attitudes to trans people as well. Given the success of the moral panic conservatives have manufactured around the…
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Blood Ban Apology
On May 10, the Canadian Blood Service offered an apology for the ban on blood donations from gay men and trans women. For most of my life, the CBS treated my blood as filthy. Even though I’ve only had sex a handful of times in my life and was regularly tested, my blood was considered…
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Anti-trans and anti-gay rallies across Canada, deconstructed
Following the failure to portray gay people as an existential threat, conservatives have shifted to trans people’s increasing acceptance as the latest wedge issue. Supported by an ecosystem of American conservative television, British tabloids, reactionary content creators, and a long-standing history of homophobia and transphobia domestically, these forces have resulted in the biggest rallies against…
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International Chess Federation Bans Trans Women
The International Chess Federation, FIDE, has banned trans women from participating in women’s events in a new policy: In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made. Such decision should be…
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Anti-trans mob in Ottawa
On Friday (June 9th), a mob of transphobes descended on three Ottawa schools in the west end. They believe that educators are corrupting cisgender children into becoming trans; a reformulation of the old “the gays are recruiting children” trope.
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It’s terrorism.
A week before starting to write this article, neo-Nazis showed up to harass families attending a storytelling event in Toronto. They were incensed that the story was read by a person wearing outfits associated with a different gender. Among the detractors was the leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party and members of White Lives Matter…
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A bibliography for trans history in Canada
This list is not definitive. It started with what was in my own collection, and then I expanded it to cover more titles that I was aware of or had read. Consider it just a snapshot, limited by my own access and bias. It covers up until 2024. I’m generally uninterested in trans autobiographies beyond…
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What does maintaining perspective mean in this climate?
I feel more anxious now in public than I did pre-pandemic. I avoid washrooms, holding it in to the point of discomfort and minding what I drink when I go out. Change rooms are out of the question; last month I initially declined curling with colleagues because I thought I would need to use them.…
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TDoR 2022
There was two TDoR events last weekend; one on the francophone side of the river and one on the anglophone. I helped a pal carry the displays they made for the English-language event, then attended the French one. It was intimate; perhaps fifteen or so. Quebec’s transphobic Bill 2 was brought up. There was a…