Trans Rights Activists Hold Celebration of Life at Legislature

250 supporters of the transgender community rallied at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria to celebrate their victory over detractors who once again did not even care to show up for their own march.

The event was organised by 1 Million Voices For Inclusion—which I belong to—and Finn’s Future, the latter a collective publication run by a transgender youth. Our partners featured the Greater‬ ‭Victoria Teachers’ Association, the Quadra Village Community Centre, the Foundry,‬ Island Sexual Health, and the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society.

‭On this date one year ago, hundreds of trans supporters repelled the 1 Million March‬ For Children to defend the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) charter‬ ‭ensuring an inclusive environment for transgender and gender-diverse individuals in‬ schools across the province.‬ This year we have preemptively secured the Legislature grounds to hold a‬ daylong event celebrating this victory over hatred, and as a result the opposition cancelled its plans altogether over security concerns.

At least in Victoria. Both factions have been holding rallies across the nation today, duelling over a range of issues such as the use of preferred pronouns or access to washrooms. Once again the main point of contention between the factions was the adoption of inclusivity policies in public schools, such as SOGI123.

Today’s event was more of a celebration than a protest. The program featured speakers, a flash choir, poetry reading, songs, a youth lead drag show, arts and crafts, and facepainting. It was advertised as a family-friendly event open to everyone believing in inclusion.

While we wished to focus on positivity, the political discourse is nowadays marred by inflammatory rhetoric, including a recent call by the leader of the BC Conservative Party to repeal SOGI123. I was interviewed on the topic by the media twice today, and on both occasions I had to dodge the question by pointing out we’d chosen to spread a positive message instead of taking their bait.

And although the Million Marchers chickened out, roughly a dozen hostiles did show up sporadically throughout the day, almost exclusively former Freedom Convoy protesters looking for a reason to protest now that pandemic restrictions are behind us. Most were of the friendly or civil variety, and a few even mingled with the crowd to engage in polite conversation with organisers and advocates. Only one needed to be escorted off the premises by VicPD. The rally unfolded without any notable incident.

By the way, our event collided with the Climate Strike protest, held by a coalition including Frack Free BC, Sue Big Oil, and Dogwood, calling for an end to dependence on fossil fuels. Since we had both reserved the Legislature lawn on the same day, we had to coordinate our respective programmings in order to avoid drowning each other. This means the transgender celebration of life was interrupted for about an hour to make space for addresses by environmentalists, which were well received by the queer supporters.