Trans rights are women’s rights
Earlier this month, Sophie LaBelle, a Montreal-based, internationally-renowned transgender author and activist, was subject to a violent cyberattack, including death threats and hate speech.
The attackers not only temporarily disabled her popular website, they also published personal details — including her home address. LaBelle is now in hiding.
Bill C-16, legislation designed to protect gender identity and gender expression in the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code, explicitly addresses the violence that LaBelle recently experienced. If the bill were made law, Labelle’s attackers could face additional sanctions for hate speech.
Indeed, Bill C-16 helps to redress incomplete protections for some of the most vulnerable women in Canadian society: transgender women. They face unconscionably high rates of physical, sexual and fatal violence.
For over a decade, however, legislation aiming to protect transgender rights has stalled. Numerous lives continue to be tragically impacted by discrimination, harassment and violence in the meantime.
Much of this stalling has occurred in the Senate, where a small but vocal minority of senators has prevented the bill from moving forward. Third reading of the bill took place in the Senate this week.
There have been other detractors. Most recently, Vancouver Rape Relief (VRR) and Pour less droits des femmes du Québec (PDFQ) claimed during a Senate committee hearing on the issue that the protections for transgender people in Bill C-16 pose a threat to feminism and femaleonly spaces.
This claim garnered national headlines. But it was spurious.
In the immediate aftermath of the testimony, Canadian feminists moved quickly to distance themselves from such exclusionary views. On May 17, we published an open letter entitled, “Canadian Feminists Support Bill C-16/Féministes canadiens pour la loi C-16,” on iPetitions. The petition argued that the bill “is deeply needed and long overdue,” especially given that “transgender women are more likely to face poverty, homelessness, barriers to education and violence than are cisgender (non-transgender) women.”
In just one day, it gained over 1,000 supporters. Signatories include people from women’s shelters, churches and women’s studies programs in universities across the country.
Wide-ranging support for trans rights in Canada goes all the way up to the Prime Minister’s Office.
On International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared, “Today — and every day — I join Canadians to support gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation rights for people in Canada and around the world, and to challenge stigma, violence and prejudices wherever they occur.”
Bill C-16 cements such sentiments and good wishes into reality. A large majority of the members of Parliament also support this recognition of trans rights.
Our senators must decide if they too will protect gender identity and gender expression. These measures are needed not only by those who are transgender, but also by less-understood non-binary and gender-fluid individuals.
As the Senate meets to vote on the third reading of this historic legislation, we urge them to remember that gender-diverse people of all ages, from children to seniors, should be embraced as equals in this country, with the full protection of the law.