Signal Boost: Canada's Bill C-279
I'm not Canadian and so their politicians probably don't care what I think, but I can still signal boost! Go read Natalie Reed's post about this bill, which will
add gender identity and gender expression to the list of statuses protected under the Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms.
Currently, transgender Canadians have no such protections, and may be discriminated against on the basis of their gender by employers, businesses, shelters, institutions (public or private) and individuals without any legal consequence. Effectively, I can be turned down for a job, barred from entering a restaurant, denied admittance to a shelter or hostel, or forced to comply with male dress-codes at public institutions without my having any recourse. If I am harassed, assaulted or murdered on the basis of my being trans, this does nto qualify as a hate crime. I am in the position of having to depend simply on the mercies of a legally empowered majority to choose not to exercise their right to openly discriminate against me.
I'm pretty sure most US states are also in this sorry situation.(California has some protections, but did anyone even hear about those bills last year in the first link? It should have been a huge news item.) If anyone's aware of any similar bills in other countries, drop a line about it. Though probably all the US legislatures, at least, are too busy trying to make women carry dead fetuses to term (because nothing says "pro-life" like "even though it could not possibly preserve a hypothetical life because it's ALREADY DEAD, you better carry that dead tissue even if it gives you sepsis or whatever and kills you, because I like farm animals") to be working for something as outrageous as equal rights.
add gender identity and gender expression to the list of statuses protected under the Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms.
Currently, transgender Canadians have no such protections, and may be discriminated against on the basis of their gender by employers, businesses, shelters, institutions (public or private) and individuals without any legal consequence. Effectively, I can be turned down for a job, barred from entering a restaurant, denied admittance to a shelter or hostel, or forced to comply with male dress-codes at public institutions without my having any recourse. If I am harassed, assaulted or murdered on the basis of my being trans, this does nto qualify as a hate crime. I am in the position of having to depend simply on the mercies of a legally empowered majority to choose not to exercise their right to openly discriminate against me.
I'm pretty sure most US states are also in this sorry situation.(California has some protections, but did anyone even hear about those bills last year in the first link? It should have been a huge news item.) If anyone's aware of any similar bills in other countries, drop a line about it. Though probably all the US legislatures, at least, are too busy trying to make women carry dead fetuses to term (because nothing says "pro-life" like "even though it could not possibly preserve a hypothetical life because it's ALREADY DEAD, you better carry that dead tissue even if it gives you sepsis or whatever and kills you, because I like farm animals") to be working for something as outrageous as equal rights.