While I prefer documenting protests with cops and hostiles, occasionally I write about advocacy, and today is transgender people's turn.
About sixty people gathered at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility, both to support its community members and to denounce the relentless persecution they face.
The actual date for TDOV is actually March 31st, which is next week, but the organisers decided to hold it ahead of time to allow more people to attend since this year it would collide with Easter Sunday.
Several speakers from diverse backgrounds were invited to speak at the event, including MLA Grace Lore, who used to serve as Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity. Other were members of the community who came to share their own experiences and points of view, or advocates who reminded the audience that the fight for the rights of transgender people is only beginning.
Indeed, while transgender and nonbinary people have made a breakthrough in having their civil rights acknowledged in recent years, it triggered a wave of backlash that swept the country from coast to coast, culminating six months ago with the so-called 1 Million March for Children, which at least in Victoria was routed by an overwhelming crowd of counterprotesters.
Nevertheless, inflammatory rhetoric against inclusive policies keeps spreading among conservative political circles, such that even in Canada the fight for recognition and acceptance continues. Not two months ago, notoriously eccentric Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced sweeping policies targeting transgender minors, notably by restricting their access to gender-affirming care and denying them the use of their pronouns of choice at school.
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