Young transgender man from Mcivers is making a difference in the lives of other transgender people
CORNER BROOK — Blair Curtis was 16 when he came out as transgender.
“I just wanted to be me. Being me was what was important,” the now 22-year-old man from Mcivers said as he reflected on that time in his life.
Curtis had the support of his family in his transition but still encountered negativity from those who were unaccepting. He also saw a divide in support services within the province.
“Early on in my transition I realized there was no local support group here in Corner Brook.”
The closest one, offered by Trans Support NL, was in St. John’s. Curtis and his mom, Gerri-lynn Curtis, travelled for roughly eight hours to attend and felt it was a huge help.
“Helping understand what my transition meant and getting to know folks that were also trans so that I could learn a bit more about myself,” said Curtis.
Motivated to help others, Curtis and his mom returned from St. John’s and started a west coast chapter of the Parents of Trans and Gender Diverse Kids group and have expanded with a Trans Adult Group. Parents and their children attend together but also meet separately.
“I feel like when they came, they realized there was an environment where they could feel safe and accepted and supported, where they could share their journey with others who understood them,” said Curtis.
Since then, Curtis has become a trans rights activist who fought for equitable access to gender-alignment surgery and who was nominated for a Human Rights award in 2020.
He’s about to enter his second year of law school at the University of New Brunswick and since being diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome he’s expanded his advocacy into speaking out for trans people with disabilities to ensure accessibility is not an issue for them to get not only the supports they need but to participate in activities.
In the last couple of years, Curtis said there’s been a shift towards being more inclusive and more accepting and he plans on being there to see the day when there will be total acceptance and inclusion.
Gerri-lynn Curtis said according to what they’ve seen within their west coast groups that her son’s efforts have impacted others.
“It’s nice for them to see that somebody who is like them is fighting for rights and nice for them to see it’s actually working,” she said.
“He’s going to improve somebody’s chances of wanting to open up and come out to their family because they’ve seen him do it.”
After receiving a little brown envelope in the mail last summer, Stephanie Tucker from St. John’s became one of 45 randomly selected Canadians to join the Citizens’ Assembly on Democratic Expression.
“Our hope and our goal is to provide insight and ideas and information that can be used to shape policies around the issue of disinformation and people who are causing harm online and hate speech,” she said in a video interview from Ottawa.
The group is comprised of Canadians with a multitude of backgrounds and perspectives.
There is also an expert panel making recommendations.
Tucker, 29, lives in Paradise and works in communications and marketing.
While she understands the importance of digital literacy because of her job, this process has opened her eyes to the complexity of these conversations.
“The big idea that we’re talking about now is moving away from the model exclusively of censorship and content removal,” she said.
While it’s still important that users of social media can report content, it’s not the be-all, end-all.
Ideas like “algorithmic disclosure” will also play a large role in making the internet safer, she said.
“For example, on Facebook … if you give an angry reaction, the algorithm loves that and they want to start showing you more of that. And … it can really amplify things,” she said. “Canadians should have the right to understand the algorithm and how that information is being used and maybe even turn that off so that violence or possible hate speech … are not given the platform to grow and expand.”
And she’s increasingly interested in more public education on digital literacy.
“There’s lots of different examples of the harm disinformation spreading online can have,” she said. “It can create increased polarization, creating this ‘us versus them’ narrative. It can marginalize certain groups. It can (provide) the opportunity for disinformation to amplify.
“But I do hope for positive change to come out of what we’ve done here.”