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By dentedbluemercedes, on March 21, 2013, at 12:09 am The Bathroom Bill was supposed to be voted on today.
No, I’m not talking about the human rights bill that opponents have tried to tag with that nickname — C-279, which proposes to clarify and enunciate legal protections for most transsexual and transgender Canadians (although the removal of the class “gender expression” has opened some doubt). Although C-279 says nothing about washrooms, opponents have tried to fearmonger about bathrooms, conflate trans people with sexual predators, and/or claim that human rights inclusion would somehow grant legal cover to predators. Bill C-279 passed, today, on a vote of 149 to
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: A Real Bathroom Bill.
By dentedbluemercedes, on March 14, 2013, at 12:06 am A bit of point and counterpoint here, to provoke some thought.
I thought this portion of a lecture given by Robert Sapolsky at Stanford University, given in 2010, would be worth posting for folks who found this blog recently, and/or aren’t familiar with some of the medical discoveriess since the late 1990s. It gives a very quick overview of some of the developments that have been happening in studying transsexualism.
This comes via Transadvocate, and h/t Zoe Brain.
As a counterpoint, I was going to link to an article I wrote called Why “Born This Way” Is Not the
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Intersex Conditions within the Transsexual Brain / Why “Born This Way” Is Not the Point
By dentedbluemercedes, on February 28, 2013, at 1:21 pm … aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we still don’t know what Bill C-279 is going to be when it’s voted on at Third Reading.
The bill, which proposes to add trans people to human rights legislation, had an hour of debate at report stage. Randall Garrison requested that amendments be added to the bill, and the Speaker decided that they should be debated and voted on by the House, prior to Third Reading. This was the first hour of that, with a second to follow. Consequently, we still didn’t get any yes / no answer on whether those changes would be
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: C-279: To amend or not to amend?
By dentedbluemercedes, on December 4, 2012, at 5:59 pm [This post comes to us courtesy of Michelle Boyce at the Alphabet Community Centre. -M]
Anna Saunders is a mature student who attended a summer school class at Saunders Secondary School and a teacher decided she was a “guy in a dress”, beginning to use male pronouns and “Sir” when addressing her. The students picked up on the teacher’s behaviour and started harassing Anna during class and following her after school. Anna was left vulnerable and scared. After school officials spoke to the teacher twice about his behaviour, the teacher decided to play the scene from the
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Guest Post: Teacher plays scene from Disney Movie to Humiliate Student in Class
By dentedbluemercedes, on December 1, 2012, at 1:08 am The Province of Nova Scotia passed Bill 140, the Transgendered [sic] Persons Protection Act, today. The Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project (NSRAP) commented on Facebook: “Bill 140 passed today with unanimous support in the Nova Scotia Legislature. “Debate” isn’t the right word to express what happened – it was an outpouring of support for adding  . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans Human Rights in Canada: Progress, Stalls and Confustication.
By dentedbluemercedes, on November 20, 2012, at 11:39 pm Hi. On Sunday November 18th, 2012, you attended the Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony commemorated in Calgary, Alberta. Thank you. You also left a small tribute. I wanted to let you know that we’ll make it a permanent part of our display for you. It’s a small thing, but hopefully it will help let everyone  . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Dear anonymous guest.
By dentedbluemercedes, on November 14, 2012, at 12:31 am Next week or in the week following, Canada’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (JUST) will be reviewing the trans human rights Bill C-279, to approve or amend it before deciding whether to forward it on to Third Reading. Following federal Member of Parliament Rob Anders’ disastrous attempt to lobby Canadians against the bill by  . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Defining human rights.
By dentedbluemercedes, on October 8, 2012, at 7:56 pm On Friday, Sun News commentator Brian Lilley interviewed Rob Anders, the Member of Parliament who has drawn condemnation for conflating transsexual and transgender people with sexual predators in a petition he has been circulating on his website, and to at least one church in his riding. In “Children’s bathroom bill reaches Parliament Hill,” both doubled down on conflating trans people with sexual predators, and suggested that granting human rights inclusion will somehow enable and legally absolve predatory acts. Anders claims there is “all sorts of examples of this going on.” Which is news to anybody else.
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: MP’s trans predator fearmongering escalates.
By dentedbluemercedes, on October 6, 2012, at 9:58 am Normally, I’m not one to promote something if I’m in it. That kind of thing is horribly self-aggrandizing. So I’ll apologize right off for doing that here.
But given the recent focus on trans issues due to the comments made by Rob Anders, I thought it would be a good moment to give average Canadians a chance to get to know a little bit about trans people, and why clear human rights inclusion is necessary. This is a documentary that was put together last year, and features people in Calgary and the greater Calgary area.
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: The Mask of Gender
By dentedbluemercedes, on October 4, 2012, at 9:21 pm
Rob Anders is on a mission. Hot on the heels of having to halfway apologize for alleging that NDP leader Thomas Mulcair drove former NDP leader Jack Layton to his grave, Anders is now sending at least one church (possibly more) a letter asking them to petition MPs to oppose Bill C-279, which would (in its current form) extend human rights protections to transsexual and transgender people. You’d almost think he needs an easy deflection, and trans people are the punching bag du jour.
It must be important, too. For a Member of Parliament who has
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Rob Anders, the transsexual bogeyman, and the weird phenomenon of MPs petitioning their constituents.
By dentedbluemercedes, on July 20, 2012, at 2:58 pm “After dismantling Apartheid, when we sat down to write our Constitution, we quite deliberately ensured that gays, lesbians and bisexuals were included in South Africa’s Constitution.
“Having ourselves suffered terribly, we did not want to inflict discrimination on any group that lived within our borders and we explicitly stated this for the world to know that we have learned the lessons taught by our unforgettable and regrettable history.”
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in a letter to Jacksonville City Council, 21 June, 2012.
Human rights should not be controversial.
And yet, the ability of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Basic human rights should not be “controversial.” Jacksonville, this means you, too.
By dentedbluemercedes, on July 1, 2012, at 11:45 pm The interplay of rage and persecution complexes works to shape trans, LGB — and in fact all — struggles against oppression. It can become an eternal feedback loop that can stymie any attempt to move progressive causes forward, if it succeeds in establishing its circuitous pattern.
This translates to many struggles, so I’m going to speak generally and with varied examples — but I’m reminded of this most recently by the claims of persecution over a confrontation that happened at the New York dyke march, by Cathy Brennan, so will probably focus there most frequently.
(Oh dear god, I
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: On Persecution Complexes and Rage
By dentedbluemercedes, on June 27, 2012, at 9:43 pm On Wednesday June 6th, Parliament voted to send Private Member’s Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) to committee for review as part of its trek toward passage. I had expressed concerns at that time about some possible changes that were being considered, but it remains to be seen in committee stage if that will happen. I do know that if Parliamentary support for the bill drops, those changes will become more likely, while better awareness could help to avert them.
15 Conservative Members of Parliament
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans rights bill supporters being targeted. Also, a flag for you.
By dentedbluemercedes, on June 6, 2012, at 12:51 am The second hour of Second Reading debate for Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) occurred on Friday June 1st, and the Second Reading vote is to take place on Wednesday June 6th. I missed any indication that the discussion was going to happen, and consequently didn’t catch up on things until today when I was preparing to post the Hansard and looked at the discussion that took place.
IF Randall Garrison carries through on his promises to make the amendments stated at the end of Second Reading
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: C-279: When a victory for one can be a victory for… one.
By dentedbluemercedes, on April 19, 2012, at 6:49 pm (The following comes courtesy of Teacher Trainer Student Guy at anthrotecture, originally published on Tuesday, April 17, 2012)
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of the Constitution of Canada. [The Charter affirms equality rights under Section 15, however this section did not come into effect until 1985, so happy 27th anniversary, Section 15!]
Section 15 (1) states that “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination ….” However, the notion that every
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Guest Post: Happy anniversary, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms!
By dentedbluemercedes, on April 12, 2012, at 11:15 pm CBC is asking the question, “Should we use gender-neutral pronouns instead of ‘he’ and ‘she’?“ Citing Sweden’s addition of a gender-neutral pronoun to the National Encyclopedia and a news story last year about a Toronto couple who wished to raise their child genderless until the child decides, and asks:
Do you think language should be gender-neutral? Why or why not? Or, is this going to far in the quest for equality between genders? Does changing the language make a difference?
Hm.
Speaking for myself, I’m not terribly oppressed by “she.” The only times I was ever close
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: CBC: Should we use gender-neutral pronouns instead of ‘he’ and ‘she’?
By dentedbluemercedes, on April 10, 2012, at 12:01 am Did he just say that?
Xtra is reporting that during the first hour of discussion for the trans human rights bill C-279, Conservative MP Dean Allison attempted to link trans women with sexual predators.
[Bill C-279 sponsor Randall] Garrison says not all Conservative MPs feel that way. “That’s at the core of the old Reform Party attitude that I think is a significant part of the Conservative caucus, but there are others who don’t share those views.” He says there are 65 sitting members who voted against same-sex marriage. “That gives you an idea.”
That’s the bad news.
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Potty panic in the halls of Parliament
By dentedbluemercedes, on April 4, 2012, at 6:42 pm Second Reading for Bill C-279 comes up on Thursday April 5th, There will be an hour of debate at around 1:30 EST (11:30 MST). This is only the first part of Second Reading process, and there will likely be another hour of debate in May or possibly June. Three things could happen:
The bill goes to committee (most likely the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights) and then returns for Third Reading, The bill skips committee stage and goes to Third Reading, or The bill is defeated on a vote.
If you haven’t called your MP’s office to arrange
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans human rights Bill C-279 Second Reading debate begins tomorrow
By dentedbluemercedes, on March 8, 2012, at 6:11 pm From the pen of Randall Garrison comes the following:
NDP-Quebec LGBTT Commission, Canada
Message from Randall Garrison: Gender identity bill to be debated in April
Posted on March 3, 2012 by npdqclgbtt
Dear friends,
Spring is upon us and so is the fight to protect the rights of transsexual, transgender and gender-variant Canadians in Parliament. I am taking the Gender Identity Bill, Bill C-279, back into the House of Commons for its first hour of second reading for debate in April.
This Bill has made it through the House of Commons once and I believe that we can do it
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Canadian trans rights bill C-279 to be debated in April.
By dentedbluemercedes, on February 29, 2012, at 11:01 pm (Previously offered to Xtra.ca. They did post a reply by Christin Milloy)
Xtra’s Rob Salerno recently questioned whether it was important to work toward explicit inclusion for transsexual and transgender people in human rights legislation, by adding the terms gender identity or gender expression. He wrote this in response to the reintroduction of Toby’s Act, in Ontario’s Legislature, but also referenced efforts to do so at the federal level, such as last year’s Bill C-389.
Overlooking the question of whether it’s appropriate for someone without trans experience and who wouldn’t be affected by trans human rights inclusion at
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Five reasons it’s important to support trans rights now.
By dentedbluemercedes, on February 10, 2012, at 12:18 am The Transport Committee has upheld the gender marker match requirement in the Aeronautics Act which has the potential to ban some or even most transsexual and transgender Canadians from flying.
Although no one has come forward publicly to say that they’ve been denied passage since this went into force, reports from travelers indicate that the lack of problems is likely solely because Section 5.2 (1) 3 (c) of the act is not being enforced by the airlines who’ve been inexplicably given full responsibility for it. Media and many in the public have responded with the attitude that if it
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Transport Committee upholds gender marker match requirement
By dentedbluemercedes, on February 8, 2012, at 11:12 am The Transport Committee will be meeting again on Thursday to discuss a motion put forward by Olivia Chow with Randall Garrison and Dany Morin to remove the gender marker requirement from the Aeronautics Act. The motion reads:
“That the Government repeals Section 5.2 (1) 3 (c) of the Identity Screening Regulations under the Aeronautics Act which were introduced in August 2011 and which states that “An air carrier shall not transport a passenger: [...] 3. C) if the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents;” as
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: A motion on the trans air travel concerns, and a handy guide on how to get a proper passport.
By dentedbluemercedes, on February 2, 2012, at 8:49 am Continuing the reportage of the new regulations that could potentially bar some trans Canadians from being able to board a plane. Here’s part one for the background, and a statement from the Trans Equality Society of Alberta. There are a few online petitions to address the issue, including this one at Change.org.
Xtra is reporting that “Lebel and other Conservative MPs were openly “snickering” and disrespectfully mocking Garrison, Morin and Liberal MP Justin Trudeau as they pressed the government for answers.”
“The response was outrageous,” [Olivia] Chow says. “It’s totally ridiculous. If you listen to
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: Canadian MPs Allegedly Snicker and Mock Trans Screening Concerns in Parliament
By dentedbluemercedes, on February 1, 2012, at 12:38 am I just wanted to update folks on the Aeronautics Act regulatory change issue.
Firstly, I caution people to avoid saying that that trans people are “completely banned” from airlines, especially since we don’t know yet if that’s how this will play out. The regulation has been around since July or longer, there’s been no reports of denial of transport, and some of that can be explained by the delay in implementation, but we’ve not experienced a total ban — at least not yet. There is even a portion that could be interpreted as an intended exemption.
It’s true that with
. . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: TESA: New Regulations Potentially Bar Some Trans Canadians From Air Travel
By dentedbluemercedes, on January 30, 2012, at 10:08 am Marathon runner Jennifer McCreath has pointed out a recent regulatory change that the Harper Conservatives have made to the Aeronautics Act (i.e. passed by ministerial fiat, rather than shepherded through Parliamentary process) that potentially affects many trans (and cis) Canadians and could even ban some from air travel:
Sec 5.2(1) An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if
(a) the passenger presents a piece of photo identification and does not resemble the photograph; (b) the passenger does not appear to be the age indicated by the date of birth on the identification he or she presents; (c) . . . → Read More: Dented Blue Mercedes: New airport screening regs raise questions for trans Canadians
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