Category: Trans Rights

  • Homophobia and transphobia is why PC’s repealed sex ed

    Homophobia and transphobia is why PC’s repealed sex ed

    On July 11th 2018 the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PCs) followed through on a campaign promise rid Ontario of the 2015 sexual education curriculum. Come September, students would be taught the 1998 curriculum. The 2015 curriculum included content about consent, online bullying, and LGBT realities. None of these were present in the 1998 curriculum, which…

  • A Month After Bill C-16

    A Month After Bill C-16

    Warning: This article contains some deeply transphobic images and text. Following Bill C-16’s passing, I monitored Twitter and other social media platforms with respect to the bill. Initially, coverage was mostly positive. As the news of the bill’s passage left the current news cycle, the coverage turned sharply negative. Some of it was particularly nasty.…

  • Bill C-16 Passes

    Bill C-16 Passes

    Twelve years after it was first introduced to Parliament, the law to add gender identity and gender expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act has finally passed. The final vote in the senate was 67 in favour, 11 against, and 3 abstentions. The day had started with conservative senators arguing that recognizing the rights of…

  • Bill C-16 in the Senate

    Bill C-16 in the Senate

    This past month, the National Post published an article in opposition to Bill C-16, the legislation that would add gender identity and gender expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act. It is the eighth such article by the newspaper opposing the anti-discrimination bill for trans, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals in the past year. In this piece, the newspaper articulated the view…

  • Free Speech

    Free Speech

    Here are some experiences I’ve had: I go on a date. While saying goodbye to the date, a man comes up to me, inquires about my gender, and gropes my breasts to find out if I am a man or a woman. I go to the gym. After my work out, a patron tells me to get…

  • The Opposition to Bill C-16

    The Opposition to Bill C-16

    A little while ago, I spoke about how professor Jordan Peterson acted as a lightning rod for Canadians to express their opposition with acceptance of trans people. This opposition has reached a point where it is threatening the passage of Bill C-16, also known as the trans rights bill. In this article, I’m going to cover the…

  • Bill C-16 Moves on to Senate

    Bill C-16 Moves on to Senate

    I was in Parliament on November 18th, to attend the vote on the third reading of Bill C-16 in the House of Commons. Three years ago, I was here watching the same for the failed precursor of C-16, Bill C-279. I was there with activists from Gender Mosaic, who deserve much credit for their work…

  • Lightning Rods

    Lightning Rods

    She looked straight at me. I had just finished a work out and was back in the change room to shower. I don’t really remember what she said; I forget exact words when I’m extremely anxious. I just remember her look. I remember that she told me where the exit to the women’s change room and…

  • Trans People in the Workplace

    Trans People in the Workplace

    “Trans PULSE findings showed that while 71% of trans people have at least some college or university education [in Ontario], about half make $15,000 per year or less.“ This article will look at some of the causes behind this statistic, and then practices and policies in the workplace that could be used to improve them. It’s…

  • Why I march

    Why I march

    On Friday evening I was in the Byward market about to say goodbye to a friend when a man approached the two of us. He asked me if I was a guy or girl. He looked to my friend, told her that he could tell her gender. But he couldn’t tell mine. He then grabbed…