Category: Human Rights
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Transphobia in the National Post
The National Post publishes articles with titles such as “How trans activists are unethically influencing autistic children to change genders“, “Pronouns are ruining the best thing about hockey” and “Are zee ready for the dictatorship of the gender warriors?” The newspaper has published at least 131 opinion pieces that normalize the rejection of trans and…
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Sex Work and the Church
I recited the following at our 5 pm church service, which brings in a different guest to speak every week. The lectionary reading that day was Luke 20:27-38. One of the things that I like about coming to a church like ours is hearing people’s stories. Every one of you has something to share. Stories…
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Saying it with a smile
Christian white supremacy has been part of the fabric of Turtle Island since colonization. The short history of Canada includes the genocide of Indigenous people, concentration camps for those of Japanese descent, and legislated exclusion of those who weren’t white from immigration. This isn’t the distant past; there are many alive today who have been…
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The Canadian media’s targeted harassment of queer and trans individuals
Jessica Yaniv was refused service at over a dozen beauty salons in B.C. because she is trans: [Yaniv] says many of the estheticians advertised themselves as offering arm, leg, and pubic hair waxing for either male or female customers. However, when Yaniv informed them she was transgender she says she was suddenly refused appointments outright,…
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Anglican Church of Canada votes against recognizing same-sex marriage at General Synod
The results disseminated through Twitter seconds ahead of the live stream. My friend looked at their phone “Oh fuck – Connor says ‘I’m sorry’.” A young adult in the room with us started to cry. The video feed caught up. We heard weeping over the computer speakers from the youth at General Synod. Though 80%…
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Nationalist groups and the intimidation of gender and sexual minorities in Canada
This article has been updated to include events of the summer. Since the late nineties, organized antagonists of gender and sexual minorities were largely Christians or affiliated with major conservative political parties. The dynamics have changed. In the past few years, there’s been a rise of nationalist groups across Canada and they have been inserting…
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Male privilege for trans women
I want to push back against the idea that trans women don’t experience male privilege. It’s not universal, but some do despite also simultaneously experiencing transphobia and transmisogyny. If a trans woman came out later in life in today’s climate, after she was already a software developer or in the top 10% income bracket ($80,000/year),…
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Conservatives are rewriting history instead of facing it
June is Pride month, and both federal conservative leaders in Canada and the US have used this as an opportunity to claim support for LGBT/LGBTQ people. The spokesman for Conservative leader Andrew Scheer stated this week: “Canada’s Conservatives have a proud history of fighting for the rights and protection of all Canadians, including those in…
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Shifting away from queer & trans advocacy
Ten years ago, I wrote a blog post where I talked about my focus shifting to queer and trans issues. I was ignorant at the time, and spent the next decade unlearning, and growing. I’ve reached another inflection point in my life where I’m exhausted and am now stepping away from this work. I wrote…
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Change requires vulnerability
You don’t measure vulnerability by the amount of disclosure. You measure it by the amount of courage to show up and be seen when you can’t control the outcome. Brené Brown, The Call to Courage The dominant narrative in contemporary Canadian society is that prejudice is a thing of the past. That racism ended with…