SEEKING REFORM THROUGH THE SELFIE
One activist’s campaign to secure gender-identity rights.
When actress Laverne Cox of TV’s Orange Is the New Black became the first transgender person to make the cover of Time magazine, it represented a watershed moment for those who have often chosen obscurity over visibility — and for good reason.
Long feared and misunderstood by mainstream society, transgender and gender-nonconforming people are often targets of mockery, discrimination and violence, making them one of the most marginalized groups in the world. But increasingly, transgender folk are choosing to step out from the shadows and voice their demands for acceptance, insisting the world has nothing to fear from them and that they’re just like everyone else.
Their campaign for human rights protection under the law may represent the final frontier in the fight against sex-based discrimination.
“What we’re seeing is a move toward centring and foregrounding of trans voices and experiences,” says Ryan Dyck of the LGBTQ advocacy organization, Egale Canada.
“It can be very dangerous for a lot of trans people to come out, but for those who feel safe doing so or have the ability to do so, it’s really important.”
Brae Carnes, a 23-year-old from Victoria who identifies as a trans woman, became an activist over what she sees as the gutting of Bill C-279, which would add “gender identity” to both the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act. The bill passed in the Commons two years ago, but languished in the Senate until February, when the upper chamber introduced several amendments. The most controversial was championed by Conservative Sen. Donald Plett, which could in effect prohibit transgender people from entering any single-sex washroom, change room or abuse shelter under federal jurisdiction.
Dubbed the “Bathroom Bill,” the amended C-279 would stop anyone barred from such a facility due to gender identity from filing a human rights complaint for discrimination.
Plett argued the amendment would protect “vulnerable women” who had been victims of domestic violence from being retraumatized by the sight of a biological male and prevent male sexual predators dressed up as females from gaining access to women and girls.
“I was so angry that I thought, if this is what this guy wants, I’m just going to give it to him and show him how stupid it is,” says Carnes, who began taking selfie photos in men’s washrooms and posting them on social media.
“This is not just about girls in the men’s washroom,” Carnes says. “It’s about the fact that Donald Plett derailed Bill C-279, and in doing so he is robbing us of being protected (from hate crimes) under the Criminal Code.”
The amended bill, which remains before the Senate, is unlikely to be considered by the House of Commons before the summer break. That means it could die on the order paper when Parliament dissolves before the 2015 election, which is currently scheduled for October.
That isn’t to say there are no human rights protections for transgender Canadians.
In 2004, the Northwest Territories was the first jurisdiction in Canada to amend its human rights code to explicitly include gender identity, since followed by Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan. Protection under the other provinces’ and territories’ codes are implicit.
“Part of the reason why explicit protections are so important is because people don’t know protections exist when they’re buried in case law or in policies,” says trans woman Nicole Nussbaum, a legal aid lawyer in London, Ont.
“But when they’re explicit in legislation, they’re included in human rights educational materials, in the tracking of complaints, so there’s a better idea of how many have experienced human rights issues,” she says. “In the case of hate crimes, it really makes it clear that prosecutors have to look at the motivation of crimes against trans people to see if there is an element of hate. It also sends a message that this kind of discrimination is not OK.”
In 2012, Ontario amended its human rights code, making discrimination and harassment based on gender identity or gender expression illegal. Known as Toby’s Law, the amendment was introduced by MPP Cheri DiNovo, in remembrance of trans woman Toby Dancer, a gifted but impoverished musician who died of a drug overdose in 2004 at age 51.
“It was a huge step forward,” says DiNovo, the NDP critic for LGBTQ issues. “What we’re seeing now is it’s working its way out to all of the institutions and ministries.”
That includes the Ministry of Corrections, which now mandates that transgender inmates be housed according to gender identity, not physical traits.
Advocates say transgender people face many barriers, among them difficulty in obtaining documents such as passports, health cards and driver’s licences with male/female identification that matches their chosen gender.
So what needs to be done for transgender people to gain greater acceptance within society?
“It sounds like a bit of a pat answer, but education, education, education,” stresses Dyck. “We need to do more to dispel the myths and the prejudices that exist around what it means to be trans.”
“This is not just about girls in the men’s washroom. It’s about the fact that Donald Plett derailed Bill C-279... robbing us of being protected (from hate crimes).
BRAE CARNES