Credit to Anna Murphy for the quote.
The trans community has been under siege for many years from bigots and hate groups. For 2021’s Transgender Awareness Week, I have built a story from articles I have read mainly during the past twelve months and farther back if the articles are relevant to today’s environment.
While I ensured to maintain the spirit of every citation used, mainly trying to stay as verbatim as possible, there are instances where I have modified the original grammar or dialogue so that dozens of articles can flow more consistently and be read as one unit, let alone respecting the size of this description. I have referenced every article used with links that I encourage you to please create time to visit. There is so much additional content with every piece that is essential to help raise awareness, improve allyship and build a better and safer space for trans individuals. Please understand that there are complex topics that may trigger some individuals, such as, but not limited to, information or statistics about transphobia, homicide, suicide and violence.
Thank you for your hard work to raise awareness about trans rights to the writers of every referenced article. Thank you for your effort and dedication to the authors of studies that bring tangible metrics to real-world experiences. To the interviewees who have provided quotes that I used, thank you for sharing your insight and expertise to help create a better understanding of the needs of trans individuals.
To everyone who makes it through this entire video, thank you. I have done my best to be both thorough yet concise. I must approach this project understanding that most people who are the most important to hear this story do not have meaningful insight into what is happening in the world around them. Along with the links mentioned above, there are chapter markers for every separate topic in the description.
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For the first time in a large-scale Statistics Canada household survey, the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS) included questions about the sex assigned at birth and the gender of respondents. In 2018, 0.24% of those 15 years of age or older provided responses indicating that they were trans (i.e., their sex assigned at birth is not the same as their gender) or gender non-conforming (i.e., neither male nor female).
Transgender Canadians were more likely to have experienced violence since age 15 and more likely to encounter inappropriate behaviours in public, online and at workspaces than cisgender Canadians.
Trans individuals face unique stressors, including what some trans individuals experience when their gender identity fails to get affirmed. Across Europe, Canada and the United States, 22–43% of trans individuals report a history of suicide attempts. Trans individuals also experience higher rates of discrimination and harassment than their cisgender counterparts and, as a result, experience poorer mental health outcomes. Trans individuals are 2x more likely to think about and attempt suicide than LGB individuals. 1 in 3 trans youth attempted suicide in the past year. 67% of transitioning individuals thought about suicide pre-transition, and only 3% post-medical transition.
Trans people and suicide - The Mental Health Commission of Canada
Each year between November 13 – 19, people and organizations participate globally in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility about trans individuals and address issues members of the community face. Transgender Awareness Week is a week when trans individuals and their allies bring attention to the community by educating the public about whom trans individuals are, sharing stories and experiences and advancing advocacy around the issues of prejudice, discrimination and violence affecting the trans community. Trans advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith founded Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) as a vigil to honour her memory of Rita Hester, a trans woman who got killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the trans individuals lost to violence that year and began a meaningful memorial. TDOR occurs every November 20.
At least 350 trans individuals were killed globally in 2020, and Transrespect Versus Transphobia Worldwide (TvT) noted an “alarming trend” in the murders of trans and gender non-conforming individuals since they began their annual analysis in 2008. In the U.K., transphobic hate crime reports have quadrupled over the past five years, and 2021 is on pace to be the deadliest yet for trans and gender non-conforming Americans.
At Least 350 Trans Individuals Were Killed Globally in 2020 – Derrick Clifton, them.
Transphobic hate crime reports have quadrupled over the past five years in the U.K. - Ben Hunte, BBC
2020 was the most violent year since the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) records began, and the human rights organization called it an “epidemic of violence” along with the American Medical Association.
Murdered, Suffocated And Burned Alive – 350 Trans People Killed In 2020 - Jamie Wareham, Forbes
Trans people face ‘epidemic of violence,’ American Medical Association warns – Nick Duffy, PinkNews
According to data gathered by TVT, a research arm of the advocacy network Transgender Europe, at least 350 trans and gender non-conforming individuals got murdered between the beginning of October 2019 and the end of September 2020, the period evaluated annually through their Trans Murder Monitoring project. The total represented a 6% increase in reported murders from their count in 2019 when 331 trans and gender non-conforming individuals lost their lives due to hate violence.
TvT’s analysis shows that 98% of those murdered globally were trans women or transfeminine individuals. In addition, people of colour made up 79% of trans individuals murdered in the United States during their research timeframe. When examined globally, 38% of the murders occurred in the streets, while 22% of the incidents took place in the victim’s home. The average age of those killed is 31 years old, with the youngest victim being 15 years old.
A further humbling and critical part of the context we must view these figures is that this death total is likely the tip of the iceberg. The numbers are not comprehensive, as it only includes incidents found online and those reported to TvT by local activists and partner organizations. Many cases of anti-trans murders aren’t known to the public because they are unreported or misreported, with many victims being deadnamed and misgendered. Misidentifying trans individuals can disrupt a police investigation, preventing community members from helping identify victims and damaging the relationship between law enforcement and the trans community.
The number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada increased by 37% during the first year of the pandemic, rising from 2019’s 1,951 incidents to 2,669 in 2020. This information marks the most significant number of police-reported hate crimes since comparable data became available in 2009. Police reported 17% more cybercrime-related harassing and threatening behaviour violations in 2020 from a year earlier. The police-reported CSI and crime rate include only those incidents that come to the attention of police, either through reporting by the public or proactive policing. The 2019 General Social Survey on Victimization found that 29% of violent and non-violent incidents got reported to the police.
Tracking hate crime statistics against trans individuals in Canada is more difficult because no dedicated organization follows these details. While ‘gender identity or expression’ as a motivation for hate crime got amended in 2017 through Bill C-16, we continue to see little to no data collection on this topic, which continues to look over gender minority communities like trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals. That exacerbates the lack of information and underreporting within these communities. The 2021 census was the first census in Canada to count trans individuals living in the country.
Monitoring hate crime against trans individuals is complex because police stations are not safe spaces for many trans individuals. Before the new wording in the legislation, police had not kept an official record of the hate crimes against trans and non-binary individuals. This invisibility had troubling implications for our criminal justice system. With no documentation of the violence we experienced, there was no need for the government to act. By not explicitly naming the violence, the state demonstrates complicity in the invisibility and violence that trans and non-binary individuals face.
When police institutions ignore the existence of hate crimes, it sets up an environment that enables more violence and harassment. Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens from the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at the University of Toronto Institute of Technology analyzed a series of police interviews. They found police were generally apathetic around the rising threat of far-right hate crimes.
“In addition to the neglect paid to any known right-wing extremism presence, some police personnel deny, at least publicly, that there is any risk associated with the extreme-right. Those police personnel trivialized the extreme-right potential for growth and violence.”
Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens from the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at the University of Toronto Institute of Technology
Trans PULSE Canada’s report on health and well-being among racialized trans and non-binary individuals in Canada found that, among respondents, 72% had experienced verbal harassment in the past five years, 45% had gotten harassed at work or school, and 73% worried about being stopped or harassed by police or security because of who they are.
“Often trans individuals are misgendered, called by the wrong name and mistreated by police. Trans individuals experience different forms of hate, violence, all these different things, and not many of them reported for the same reasons of not being believed or just having to go through a transphobic system.”
Yasmeen Persad, Trans Program Coordinator, The 519
“We live in a society that ranks human value according to a hierarchy of bodies and identities, where disposability radiates outward as a person’s distance from the hegemonic ideal increases.” Trans victims, especially BIPOC trans victims, are “targeted because their identities place them far away from privilege and the social structures that uphold this complex compound oppression and ultimately place them in disproportionate danger.”
David Johns, Executive Director, National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)
2020 Was the Deadliest Year Ever For Anti-Trans Violence. 2021 Could Be Worse – Nico Lang, them.
With 2SLGBTQIA+ communities witnessing a record-high number of hate crimes in 2019, the Canadian government and society need to be more proactive in addressing these incidents targeting sexual orientation and gender minority communities. Every year the data paints the same picture, yet there is an inadequate response from the Canadian government on addressing this violence in a meaningful way.
Egale
It is illegal to discriminate against trans individuals in Canada, yet trans individuals experience daily discrimination in the community. Derogatory comments, refusal of medical care, denial of services, verbal and physical harassment and violent assault are examples of the kinds of direct and indirect discrimination encountered by trans individuals.
Many trans and non-binary individuals worldwide faced reduced access to gender-affirming resources during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing a decline in overall mental health and furthering the healthcare inequalities these individuals face. There was mounting evidence to suggest that measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 exacerbated the healthcare challenges faced by trans and non-binary individuals – from the cancellation of gender-affirming surgeries that were perceived to be elective or having to move in with unsupportive relatives and spend more time living according to their sex assigned at birth instead of their actual gender.
“Trans communities, who already face a myriad of health inequities, experienced even further health burdens due to restrictions imposed during COVID-19, like reduced access to gender-affirming treatments and mental health resources. To move forward, we need to support trans communities with policies that make gender-affirming health care affordable, accessible and recognized as essential.”
Brooke Jarrett, study author, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Evidence suggests that trans individuals in Canada are medically underserved; barriers range from lack of provider knowledge on trans issues to refusal of care. The entire spectrum of gender-affirming resources and services, from haircuts to hormone therapy to surgery, is crucial to trans and non-binary individuals. These resources and services activate and enhance the interactive process of receiving recognition for one’s gender sense of self and feeling of humanity.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people experience various forms of implicit and explicit discrimination and harassment because of their sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity. It is essential to be aware of subtle and often unintentional messages that imply that dominant cultural norms are correct, assuming that everyone is heterosexual, or that their gender and sex match, or that they identify as male or female can stigmatize those who do not identify with traditional labels. As a result, they may feel excluded, unaccepted, disrespected, ashamed, insulted, invisible unsafe, or unwanted, resulting in a reluctance to provide private and personal information or even seek care. It is essential to be aware of language in health care, ensuring respect for all people. Health care organizations have a moral obligation to establish a safe and respectful environment for all.
Ethical Considerations When Developing Forms – WRHA Ethics Services
“Trans people, and trans young people, in particular, are struggling in Canada. Too many trans young people are struggling with unstable housing or no housing at all. Seventy percent of trans kids have experienced sexual harassment, and more than a third of young trans kids have been physically threatened or injured in the past year. Too many young trans individuals have had discriminatory experiences while interacting with institutions meant to support them, from governments to health and social services to the education sector. Children’s rights and trans rights exist at an intersection. Trans young people deserve their rights, as young people, as trans people, as young trans people, to be recognized and affirmed. These rights should not and cannot be reactive in nature.”
“Rights aren’t a competition. No trans individuals are going out saying women shouldn’t have rights. Trans individuals, fairly unanimously, are in favour of women’s rights, trans rights. Legal experts have continuously debunked that notion. The Canadian Bar Association, in 2016, quite clearly articulated that there is no reasonable argument that trans rights infringed on women’s rights. That’s not how our legal rights structure works. TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) rhetoric legitimizes this idea that trans individuals invade women’s spaces and cisgender women should be fearful of this figure or phantom men in dresses. That ideology of rhetoric results in cis people in public looking at trans individuals strangely and harassing trans women. That legitimizes the acts of violence and harassment, and TERFs are contributing to that baseline of homophobia and transphobia and creating an environment where folks are more likely and empowered to target trans individuals in public.”
Fae Johnstone
“If all you have known is privilege, then equity and inclusion can feel like oppression, but they’re not the same thing. Being prevented from discriminating against someone isn’t a loss of power for anyone who’s behaving properly.”
Adrienne Smith, a trans, non-binary social justice lawyer in Vancouver
Conversion therapy “causes harm by reinforcing anti-trans and anti-gender non-binary stigma and discrimination and creating social pressure on individuals to conform to identity and presentation that may not be consistent with their sense of self. A growing body of research shows that trans or non-binary gender identities are normal variations in human expression of gender. Attempts to force people to conform with rigid gender identities can be harmful to their mental health and well-being.”
Jennifer F. Kelly, President, American Psychological Association
People and groups were able to submit their support or opposition to Bill C-6, a ban on forced conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is the debunked practice of changing someone’s sexual identity, gender identity or gender expression. The “therapy” can be provided by nearly anyone, from licensed psychologists, ministers and life coaches, to name a few. It can also fall under different names such as gender critical therapy, reparative therapy and sexuality counselling.
“There was a staggering amount that was (sent to the Senate Committee on Justice) specifically from anti-trans, TERF organizations referring to things like ‘sex-based rights,’ leading to this idea that we’re forcing people on a path towards medical transition without any choice and this idea that trans individuals are corrupting children. These organizations often emphasize children’s safety as a cover for their hatred and to draw in parents and skeptics.”
Fae Johnstone
One submission reads: “Bill C-6 will allow healthy bodies to be irrevocably damaged under false claims of a gender identity that has no basis in science.” No point of the submission offers any evidence to the claim. While Bill C-6 plans to ban forced conversion therapy, it does not give the government, or anyone, the power to forcibly make anyone undergo medical transition. Anti-trans ideology isn’t new in Canada, but those who take this stance are getting louder and bolder. Many anti-trans groups, including those who oppose Bill C-6, brand themselves as women’s groups, often used among anti-abortion groups masquerading as feminist groups.
“It’s all the same strategies of adopting the language of progressivism to push for regressive policies, and that’s harmful because it misleads people. It’s a pervasive political strategy, especially among more regressive groups, especially white ones, who are trying to defend some status quo and fight against change, and this is what is happening here, the same thing, same playbook.”
Florence Ashley, jurist and bioethicist, University of Toronto Faculty of Law and the Joint Centre for Bioethics
“The ideas aren’t necessarily new, but the difference is a lot of TERFs are becoming much more explicit about their beliefs and how vocal they are about it.”
Sebastien Roback, researcher, Canadian Anti-Hate Network
“There’s been talk around how COVID-19 has enabled and fueled the hate movements across the board with the connection between movements and racist white supremacist groups. Some opportunities have arisen through COVID-19 that TERFs and other hate groups have leveraged to recruit to bring more folks on board and continue that narrative of trans individuals are attacking everybody.”
Fae Johnstone
“We should all be worried about the rise of the extreme right in Canada. The people protesting against COVID-19 vaccinations and against wearing masks are also using inflammatory language to discuss the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, specifically trans individuals. PPC leader Maxime Bernier is actively campaigning to remove our hard-won hate speech legislation. We all need to stand up together against this extremism.”
Trevor Kirczenow, 2021 Liberal candidate for Provencher
“The biggest issue that is facing 2SLGBTQIA+ people in Canada right now as I see it is the general acceptance of discrimination against us, especially that of trans individuals and the rise of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate. This hatred gets amplified by the PPC and some Conservatives, as well as the anti-mask anti-lockdown protesters. This discrimination and hatred get compounded by intersectionality for the racialized, disabled and those living in poverty.”
Devyani Singh, 2021 Green Party candidate for Vancouver Quadra
“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees to every individual equality before and under the law and freedom from discrimination based on sex. Both courts and human rights tribunals have long recognized that anti-trans discrimination is a form of sex-based discrimination. It targets people who experience discontinuity between the sex they got assigned at birth and the sex they identify with, meaning that governments cannot act in a way that unfairly disadvantages transgender Canadians without running afoul of the charter’s equality provisions. Federal and provincial human rights legislation extends these protections to the private sector.
For example, the Alberta Human Rights Act prohibits landlords in the province from refusing a prospective tenant based on that person’s gender, gender identity or gender expression, and the Ontario Human Rights Code similarly prohibits employers in provincially regulated industries like retail from targeting employees for harassment because of their gender identity or gender expression. But, these protections are under attack. Across the country, anti-trans rights advocates are trying to convince Canadians that guaranteeing equality to gender minorities is not only unconstitutional, but it also discriminates against and harms cisgender women, that is, women who were assigned female at birth.
Their misinformation campaign, disguised as a defence of women’s ‘sex-based rights,’ has become incredibly intense in the past year. These groups are deliberately misreading the charter to legitimize their legally baseless assault on human rights legislation and the trans individuals that legislation protects. Allowing this misinformation campaign to proceed unchecked has two main risks. The first is that members of the gender minorities under attack will become less likely to access the legal supports to which they are entitled when their rights are violated, out of the mistaken fear that the justice system will not be on their side. The second is that anti-trans discrimination will increase in frequency and intensity because those opposed to trans rights will wrongly believe that such discrimination is consistent with constitutional law. Neither risk is tolerable if trans individuals have the assurance of their full and equal place in Canadian society.”
In November 2019, the Manitoba government got ordered to start offering non-binary sex designations on its birth certificates. A human rights adjudicator has also called the province to pay $50,000 to a trans individual who wanted the sex designation on their birth certificate replaced with an “X” and got denied it. Manitoba’s Vital Statistics Agency said all birth certificates have two options -- male or female -- under provincial law, and no other option is allowed. The independent adjudicator, Dan Manning, who heard the case ruled that the government’s position is discriminatory and there is nothing under the law that would prevent a third designation from being offered and said the seriousness of the province’s actions toward the complainant was on “the high end.”
“Gender identity is a part of our concept of selfhood. The practice of (vital statistics) director (Manitoba Finance Minster Scott Fielding) not to allow non-binary designations of sex designation and only permit male or female designations was effectively the government refusing to acknowledge (the complainant)’s agency and personhood. The difficulties faced by trans and non-binary individuals in our society are many, and human rights tribunals have long recognized the disadvantages faced by trans individuals and non-binary individuals in society.”
Dan Manning
The mental health benefits of correct name use are well-documented. A major 2018 study of trans youth, led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, found that increasing chosen name use by a single context, such as school, was associated with a 29 percent decrease in suicidal thinking.
Florence Ashley wrote in 2016 about their experience with deadnaming at McGill University. They say that technical issues are a poor excuse for institutions to ignore their human rights obligations.
“Essentially, they’re citing convenience and convenience is just not a viable human rights response in this area of law. The tech issue is an easy scapegoat, but it’s also not a legally relevant one.”
Florence Ashley
“While there’s undoubtedly been significant progress on 2SLGBTQIA+ issues since the Liberal Party formed government in 2015, through legislation protecting trans rights, an apology for the discriminatory purge of 2SLGBTQIA+ employees in the public service and new funding commitments to support 2SLGBTQIA+ community organizations, we are still facing crises on multiple fronts. Findings from Statistics Canada have highlighted significant income disparities, demonstrating that a “pink ceiling” on employment persists in our country. Many 2SLGBTQIA+ people still struggle to make ends meet, find affordable housing and live free of discrimination. While hate crime tracking is far from adequate, all signs point to rising rates of hate-based violence targeting our communities.
The way political parties talk about our issues couldn’t be more out of touch with the lived realities on the ground. Almost half of the trans individuals in Canada live either below the poverty line or very close to it. As much as 40 percent of the homeless youth population identifies as 2SLGBTQIA+. Our issues aren’t window-dressing. They are pressing and urgent, crises and our political parties should treat them as such. 2SLGBTQIA+ issues are election issues, and they matter to 2SLGBTQIA+ people, our allies and Canadians. It’s past time for our political parties to move beyond tokenistic commitments and deliver actual proposals in response to the crises in our communities and advance the rights, health and safety of 2SLGBTQIA+ people in Canada.”
Another federal election that fails 2SLGBTQIA+ communities – Fae Johnstone, This
Taylor Lakhryst, a trans woman from Winnipeg, brought up the issue of discrimination against people in her community, asking Erin O’Toole how he would improve on the reality that she and people like her face daily. “I’m very proud to say I was chosen to lead our party as someone with a clear record, being pro-choice and being an ally to the LGBTQ community, and I want to make sure all Canadians know, as prime minister, I’ll fight for their interests,” O’Toole said. Lakhryst responded that while O’Toole may share her belief that something has to get done to fight discrimination and acts of hatred against the trans community, people in his party do not feel that way. “You also don’t speak for everybody in your party, and that’s a conflict of interest, a significant one, as a matter of fact,” she said. O’Toole explained that when he won the leadership contest for his party, he “wanted the Conservative Party to represent more Canadians, regardless of what community, including the LGBTQ community, and, I want you to hold me to account for that,’ he said
Erin O’Toole on bigotry and transphobia
“Most people are transphobic. Seventy percent of Republican parents say they’d be unhappy if their child’s spouse identified as trans. About 30 percent of parents who say they are Democrats state they would be disappointed if their child married a trans person. According to PRRI, around 48 percent of Americans would be uncomfortable with their child being trans. Only 60 percent of Democrats would be somewhat or very comfortable with their child being trans, meaning that 40 percent of polled Democrats would be overtly uncomfortable with their child living their truth.
Take a step back and evaluate all of the day-to-day, quotidian occurrences that highlight how weird and transphobic the public is. I’m talking about small gestures, like when your boss would rather have you not use pronouns in email correspondence to clients. Or when That Guy You Went To High School With loves tearing Caitlyn Jenner apart, uncontrollably, ferociously. Or when your favourite buddy loves Joe Rogan, who happens to go on regular tirades against trans athletes in his podcast. Or when you pray to God that a consulting firm you’re applying to doesn’t learn you are trans, so you can get the job. Or when you can’t find a priest for your Indian wedding.”
A study has shown that most people who oppose trans rights and the Black Lives Matter movement incorrectly perceive reality. The research, conducted by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos MORI, is titled “The ‘fault lines’ in the U.K.’s culture wars.” The majority of those who opposed the Black Lives Matter movement and thought trans rights had “gone too far” disagreed with factual realities. Among those who believed trans rights had “gone too far,” 67 percent were unable to correctly identify that trans individuals were twice as likely to be the victim of crime compared to the U.K. population as a whole, while 79 percent those who supported expanding trans rights were able to understand that this was the case.
In less than five months, 2021 became the worst year in recent history for 2SLGBTQIA+ rights in the United States, with dozens of gay and transgender rights-related bills passed by state legislatures. The HRC said that 18 anti-2SLGBTQIA+ state bills were signed into law this year - beating 2015 when 15 such bills got enacted - in what it described as an unprecedented war on the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Seven laws restrict trans children from competing in sports, while others ban medical care for trans youth and allow parents to opt their children out of 2SLGBTQIA+-related subjects in school. More than 250 2SLGBTQIA+ rights-related bills have been introduced by state legislatures this year, reflecting a fiercely fought U.S. culture war between 2SLGBTQIA+ advocates and conservatives, as well as some religious groups.
“These bills are not only harmful and discriminatory but also represent a failure in our democracy and the commitment that elected officials made to protect and serve their constituents.”
Alphonso David, President, HRC
Across the U.S., 33 states have introduced more than 100 bills that Chase Strangio, the deputy director for trans justice at the ACLU, argues have a clear-cut goal in totality, “to stop people from being trans.” Notably, the bulk of these bills focuses on kids: Some would prevent trans kids from using the restroom or locker room that corresponds with their self-identification; some would ban trans kids from participating in same-gender youth sports; others would outlaw gender-affirming health care for minors, and still others would essentially ban 2SLGBTQIA+ issues from being taught in classrooms. In April 2021, the Florida statehouse even passed a bill that would allow for genital inspections of transgender student-athletes. In Texas, state lawmakers have introduced 12 different bills to curb trans rights in this session alone. Kai Shappley pleaded with lawmakers not to pass a bill that would make it a crime to provide hormone replacement therapy, puberty-suppression drugs and medical or surgical procedures to anyone under 18. Another bill for consideration in Texas could allow Child Protective Services to remove trans children from their parents’ custody. In other words, the very people who love to shout, “But what about the children?” are effectively endangering children’s lives to “own the libs.”
The Republican War Against Trans Kids – Saeed Jones, GQ
“I do not like spending my free time asking adults to make good choices. It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people who hate me just because I exist.”
Kai Shappley, a transgender 10-year-old from Austin, Texas
The crusade against trans athletes has been the most successful effort to introduce transphobic discrimination into state law after numerous states failed to pass larger-scale bathroom bills and puberty blocker bans in recent years. Trans athleticism is a seemingly complicated issue that has found success primarily due to a mishmash of cultural attitudes and generally incorrect assumptions, particularly about trans girls’ bodies. Anti-trans doomsayers often claim that simply allowing trans women and girls to compete at sports would “destroy women’s sports.” But that narrative largely fails to hold up to real-world evidence. Trans athletes have been allowed in girls’ high school and women’s college sports for years, and no school has had to make “co-ed teams,” a dig that misgenders trans girls and women.
Meanwhile, science has found that trans girls who hormonally transition at younger ages do not necessarily have a “biological advantage” athletically, and none of it justifies banning middle school trans girls from the local girls’ soccer team. Advocates say laws that exclude and punish trans kids using messaging that classifies young trans girls as “biological boys” is scare-mongering and unfair. It only seeks to reinforce ugly stereotypes about trans girls and women to an uninformed public. It’s another attack on trans kids that potentially threatens not just their school life but also their relationship with their parents, which, advocates say, is ultimately the goal for anti-trans conservatives: forcing trans kids back into the closet. Trans women were allowed to begin competing as women in the Olympics if they’d had bottom surgery starting in 2004. The surgery requirement was lifted in 2016 and replaced by guidelines stating that trans women must lower their testosterone levels for an entire year before eligibility. Despite the more open stance, no openly trans woman has ever qualified to compete according to their gender identity in the Olympics. Ultimately, being part of a team, sports are a normal part of kids’ socialization. Studies have shown that athletic participation provides all sorts of positive effects on children, from reduced rates of depression to positive physical health outcomes. But more importantly, high school and college sports are spaces for community-building. Small towns often gather at the local high school’s athletic events and socialize and build a common identity. By excluding trans girls from these spaces, it sends a clear message to all transgender kids that they don’t belong. Behind all the grand pronouncements, Twitter trolls and armchair experts are the authentic lives of trans kids who merely want to live everyday life without their transness making things weird or complicated.
The massive Republican push to ban trans athletes, explained – Katelyn Burns, Vox
“This is a manufactured fear that the politicians pushing hope will be emblematic of a too-swiftly changing culture.” It’s “simply a wedge issue to drive between voters of one party or another. My concern is that the wedge that these bills will drive is not between voters and a political party, but between parents and their children.”
Gillian Branstetter, spokesperson, National Women’s Law Center
“Cisgender people see a lot of the instantaneous results of the coming-out process, so they assume it’s just a snap decision. They don’t see the years of hormone therapy and the changes it does to a body. They just see the moment of public change and fear that some giant bodybuilder is going to do the same thing.”
A.J. Andrews, a Canadian trans woman and sportswriter
“It can be difficult to understand what it means to be trans, especially for those of us who have never met a trans individual. Trans athletes participate in sports for the same reasons as everyone else: to get and stay healthy, be part of a team, be a part of a sport they love and ultimately, strive for excellence. When trans athletes get excluded from participation on teams that align with their gender identity, the result is that often they are excluded from sports altogether. We shouldn’t be keeping people off teams and barring them from playing simply because of who they are.”
“Trans women are women. Arguing that trans women are a threat to ‘fairness’ or ‘equality’ in women’s sports isn’t just transphobic. The argument also gets built upon a fallacy because women’s sports aren’t fair. If women’s sports were fair, all athletes would have equal access to competitive opportunities. And if women’s sports, and sports in general, were fair, that would mean doping isn’t a concern. And if women’s sports were fair, that would mean women get paid equally. And if women’s sports were fair, that would mean women’s sports get invested inequitably. And if women’s sports were fair, that would mean women would have equal access to coaching and administrative opportunities. And if women’s sports were fair, sexual harassment and abuse would not be an issue. There are plenty of threats to fairness and equality in women’s sports. But those threats don’t include trans women.”
The real threat to women’s sports? It’s not trans women – Alex Azzi, On Her Turf, NBC Sports
Twenty red states sued the Biden administration for the right to discriminate against trans individuals. The states are suing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Education (DOE). They say that the DOE issued unauthorized guidance to schools telling them that they can’t discriminate against trans students and that the EEOC went beyond its mandate when it issued guidance that said it’s discrimination to prevent trans employees from using the restroom of their gender or forcing them to follow the dress code of their sex assigned at birth. The states that joined the Tennessee-led lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Members of the trans and non-binary communities say they’re seeing concerning signs that transphobic ideology is worsening in Canada. Anti-trans sentiments are not new to the country, but several factors make this moment in our time fraught, say activists and educators. That’s even though the federal government moved to protect the rights of trans individuals in 2017 with the passing of Bill C-16, which made gender identity and expression a protected human rights category. Recent media coverage, including a story by the CTV News investigative program W5 and opinion columns published by the Toronto Star and CBC, has been criticized by members of the trans community for pushing transphobic ideas and misrepresenting the dangers they face daily, which include violence and poor mental health due to discrimination. Among the concerning messages are assertions that trans individuals who have not undergone transition-related surgery are not real men or women or falsely paint trans women like dangerous men, say critics.
“The climate for trans individuals has improved in the last decade considerably, but we’re starting to feel some of those waves of anti-trans activism that have taken hold in the United Kingdom and the United States in recent years.”
Travers, professor of sociology, goes by one name, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC.
Research commissioned by the U.K.’s press regulator concluded trans news stores have grown 400 percent since 2010 and have become more “strident” and “heated.” Between 2012 and 2019, the number of British news stories about trans topics increased by 250 percent. While the proportion of anti-trans coverage remained similar, more media reporting means there are quantifiably more negative stories than a decade ago.
“Anti-trans groups get an incredible amount of space in public discourse and the media.”
Owl Fisher, a non-binary journalist and trans rights campaigner
An anti-trans activist recently quoted in a controversial BBC article posted online advocating for violence against trans women and called for them to get lynched. Lily Cade, a lesbian porn star who apologized amid a series of sexual assault allegations in 2017, was featured in a controversial BBC article that claims trans women pressure lesbians into sex. Cade continued to argue that trans women are not women and said if it were up to her, she’d execute “every last one of them personally.” Since the BBC published its article on October 26, 2021, it’s faced massive backlash for the piece, which many have called transphobic and dangerous. Following the article’s publication and subsequent backlash, Cade started posting extreme calls to violence against trans women on her blog.
Anti-Trans Activist Quoted by BBC Calls For Trans Women to Be ‘Lynched’ – Toria Barnhart, Newsweek
What Lily Cade Said in Transphobic Rant: Full Transcript – Emma Nolan, Newsweek
“Any week where a mainstream news publication publishes a questionably sourced, misleading and transphobic media piece is terrible. But a week where three of Canada’s most prominent and most respected media outlets publish misleading articles about trans individuals? That’s a terrible week, one that points to a worrying trend in Canadian media. These pieces and the editorial decisions to run them are all worthy of critique on their own. But taken together, they paint a narrative reminiscent of the wave of anti-trans so-called feminism out of the U.K. championed by the country’s media and celebrities like author J.K. Rowling. For trans individuals and allies in Canada, at a time when far-right anti-trans parties like the Peoples’ Party of Canada garner more than 800,000 votes in a federal election, it’s concerning to see these dangerous narratives given mainstream platforms.”
We need to talk about transphobia in Canadian media – Mel Woods, Xtra*
Anti-trans voices have an outsized impact on the trans community. “The problem is the people who are inclusive of trans individuals, primarily, in practice, have a neutral effect on the lives of trans individuals. The best that they do is not be transphobic, not interfere with the well-being of trans individuals. In contrast, the people who are against trans individuals are very negatively impacting them.”
Florence Ashley
“I’m heartbroken because I recognize what seeing that in the media, or seeing that message or seeing that narrative, does to those kids who are, literally, honestly just trying to go out and be welcomed and safe and affirmed in the world. We’re exhausted from constantly having to debate our existence, and we’re exhausted by constantly having to self-advocate in the face of ignorance. Trans women are women; trans men are men. If people can just keep that in their minds and go forward with that thought, then, you know, we might get somewhere. Progress takes time, but it should not end with us going back in time.”
Anna Murphy, a trans woman and 2SLGBTQIA+ activist in Calgary
“Say what you will about the whole journalism school rigmarole, but if there was one thing I took away from every single media ethics course, it was not to cause harm. It’s a lesson taught in J-school classes, and student newspaper meetings and everywhere else, and budding journalists come through the pipeline. Do not cause harm. Report the truth, be fair, but do not cause harm.
The DiManno Star piece needlessly posits feminism as a binary between trans and women’s rights, with the former coming at the latter’s expense. The Jessica Triff CBC piece goes against the corporation’s public Journalistic Standards and Practices, which outline that opinion must not misrepresent other points of view. It’s full of unsubstantiated claims and doesn’t engage with the existing scientific literature on how you can be trans even without medical interventions. And the CTV story perpetuates a dangerous and false narrative that transition is something a lot of kids regret.
Outlets like these can hire, promote and pay trans writers and editors in meaningful, non-tokenized ways. We’re tired of waking up to see what transphobic nonsense is burning up Twitter this time. We’re tired of watching outlets platform these ideas. Increasingly it’s more than just hurt feelings at stake: it’s our lives.”
Mel Woods
A pair of guides released by the Transgender Law Center (TLC) seeks to establish best practices for journalists who may not have prior experience reporting on trans communities as issues affecting marginalized people enter the mainstream discourse. One guide pertains specifically to anti-trans youth athletics bans, and the other gets aimed at coverage of bans on trans medical care. There are more resources now than ever before dedicated to ensuring that trans stories are told accurately and fairly, including the Trans Journalists Association’s Style Guide. While the impetus for them may be grim, the existence of these guides bodes well for the future of transgender media coverage.
A recent study has shown a link between news coverage of trans issues and increased youth referrals to gender identity clinics. But those studying and working with trans youth and children, including the study’s authors, say that more attention needs to get drawn to the tremendously harmful effects of negative media coverage on trans youth and the lack of education on gender identity. The study examined news items between 2009 and 2016 that mentioned trans issues and correlated with the number of referrals to gender identity clinics in Australia and the U.K. It found that within two weeks of the appearance of a media piece directly related to or entirely focused on trans issues, there was an increase in referrals to these clinics.
This reliance on the media points to a significant problem in our educational system. “Many things have changed over the past 10, 15 years, but the school system is still binary. Little kids pick up on these things at a very, very young age. In nursery school, it’s all heteronormative, and the stories that get read to children are all cisgender. In kindergarten, gym class gets divided into boys and girls, and it’s teaching children that those are the only gender identities there are. There are very, very easy ways to talk to young children about these things, but we keep saying, ‘We can’t possibly do this. They’re too young.’”
Alex Abramovich, scientist, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
“Cisnormative society at large can be pretty aggressive in its erasure of trans existence, preventing us from existing by blocking access to gender-affirming health care, forcing us into conversion therapy, barring us from public life by enacting legislation against us and relegating us to the margins through employment and housing discrimination. These anti-trans powers also create images to mock us or stoke fear about us, making trans individuals into monsters or the butts of raunchy jokes. Like the rest of my generation, I grew up with Norman Bates and Buffalo Bill, Lieutenant Einhorn and The Crying Game’s Dil. The traumatic effects of having these disturbing stereotypes be your only points of reference for who a trans individual is cannot be overstated: You grow up believing that transness is a disgusting, dirty secret, a fetish, a scandal, a crime.
Throughout 2020, we were as visible as possible, lights shining grossly bright on us from every stage wing. We were assumed omnipresent, in public toilets, women’s sports, pediatric clinics, controlling the media and mobbing people on Twitter. Every magazine, newspaper and podcast wanted to talk about us. Many of us are tired of being visible, tired of being scrutinized and puzzled over every hour of our lives. Many of us don’t want visibility. We want action. Visibility is a lot more palatable than action, and if you unfocus your eyes, you might even be able to confuse the former for the latter. Because of how successful anti-trans propaganda has been, the public has begun to believe that even an invocation of the trans community is a form of political activism. We’ve become so tainted by the tiny scope of the political field our opponents have relegated us to that we can no longer see the bigger picture.
While it can be emotionally invigorating, a sympathetic nod should not be confused with a helping hand. The simple acknowledgement is not an action in itself; it’s only a precursor to the movement supposed to follow. Put up branded billboards letting others know that you’ve seen the mythological sinking ship, but it won’t stop sinking until someone comes to fish it out of the deep, dark depths. How long until we shift our activism away from visibility and move on to something a bit more substantial? How long until allies stop waving at us from the safety of the sidelines and start helping us out of the wreck?”
Trans folks need more than just visibility – Nour Abi Nakhoul, trans living in Montreal, Xtra*
NBJC urges others who also care about the dignity and safety of trans individuals to do what they can to be better advocates, including raising awareness in their communities and supporting organizations working on the ground to combat the ongoing epidemic of violence. While 2SLGBTQIA+ activists raise the alarm about the threats facing trans individuals every year, allies can play an essential role in ensuring that more lives aren’t lost.
“The increase in violence against trans individuals is devastating and yet unsurprising. We have repeatedly seen that BIPOC trans individuals are among the first targets of violence and discrimination. There remains an urgent and pervasive need for allies to prevent further violence by working on expanding access to safety and opportunity for trans individuals.”
Andy Marra, Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Allies need to step up and make their presence known. “You need to support trans individuals, just as loudly and if not even louder than others hate us because just being there not discriminating, that’s unfortunately not enough to undo and outweigh the harm that’s being done by those who hate us.”
Florence Ashley
“We need to do better. We need to set a new standard on trans health, safety and rights in Canada. Trans young people are struggling in this country, and we are complicit through our silence, through our ambivalence. How can you support trans young people? Here are some suggestions:
Attend a TDOR vigil in your community.
Donate to a trans-led organization or a 2SLGBTQIA+ organization with a demonstrated commitment to trans communities.
Bring trans inclusion into your workplace, bring in a trans educator or inclusion expert to build the awareness and knowledge of your team.
Reach out and build relationships with trans people in your community who are on the front lines of our fight for justice.
Ask them what they need.
They know their local communities best and demand more action from your leaders: city councillors and provincial and federal parliamentarians.
We need our allies to be more vocal, more demanding. We need advocates working by our side to create truly trans-inclusive classrooms, workplaces, families and communities. We need our allies to demand that our governments do more and allocate more funding specifically for trans communities and trans young people. We need a real commitment to action.”
Fae Johnstone
“JK Rowling’s denial of scientific, biological, medical facts has a horrific real-world impact on people’s lives. As Daniel Radcliffe stated himself after her lengthy transphobic post in June 2020, ‘According to The Trevor Project, 78% of trans and non-binary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. It’s clear that we need to do more to support trans and non-binary individuals.’ Gender exists upon a spectrum or even a mosaic. But there seems to be an apparent need to start at the basic principles of biology and work our way up from there, including acknowledging that one in every 100 people born in the United States are intersex, meaning that they have any combination of male and female sex tissue or hormones.
Most of my trans friends are tired of explaining their identity, and I often receive looks of puzzlement when I disclose that I’m cisgender. But why would we “other” our trans family by expecting them to label themselves as trans and not expect a cisgender person to share that they’re cisgender? But we’re often talking about sex, which is visible between our legs and kind of personal information to be sharing with the world. At the same time, gender is between the ears, i.e. wired in our brains. Gender, something that both cisgender and trans individuals have, is three things: Whom you know yourself to be, how you express yourself to the world and how the world sees you.”
Sex ≠ Gender: Trans & Cisgender Animated Explainer – Fiona Dawson
“Here are four ways for cisgender individuals to be the best trans allies possible:
KNOW YOURSELF
Have the ability to define cisgender. We often focus on gender identity and expression as traits unique to the trans community, but all human beings, including straight, cisgender people, have a gender identity and presentation.
Consider how you fall within, or not, the spectrums of gender and sexual orientation. Remember that coming out as trans is very different from lesbian, gay, bi+ or any other sexual orientation, but 77% of trans individuals identify as something other than straight. People of all sexual orientations have gender expressions that get perceived in different ways.
Sex ≠ Gender. The first misunderstanding is when we get hung up on our junk, but genitals do not predict your sexual orientation or your gender. People have been assuming, incorrectly, that our sex, i.e. ‘what’s between our legs when we’re born,’ tells parents that they have a baby boy or girl. But that’s not true for everyone, which makes ‘gender reveal’ parties utterly ridiculous. By all means, have a fun ‘pregnancy party,’ but why we need to say what the baby’s genitals look like is way TMI.
Please don’t ask people about their privates. My friend Kate is from Honduras, and she is a trans woman, and I am a cisgender woman. We are both immigrants, we both have siblings, we are both ambitious, we both take risks, and we are both women. We were just born with different genitals between our legs, and that’s very personal, so neither of us should have to explain what’s in our pants.
Use your privilege. When our gender meets society’s expectations, we experience an easier time in the world. Those of us who easily conform have an opportunity to speak up for those whose gender does not neatly fall into one of society’s silly boxes.
CONSIDER OTHERS
Learn about the spectrum of identities. Generally, all people have a label for their gender, including agender for the feeling of having no gender, and these labels help express whom we know ourselves to be. But how someone appears on the outside is not necessarily how they feel on the inside. Nor is it reflective of the body they were born with, which quite frankly is none of our freaking business.
But what we can do is listen. So many brave people share their stories in multiple ways, such as online, on podcasts and in books. We can learn from hearing other people’s life experiences, and often they help us navigate our own. Be mindful that you don’t know what you don’t know, but there’s always the opportunity to learn through active listening.
Be empathetic. I didn’t know what it feels like to be trans, but I do know what it feels like to get seen as someone you’re not. To varying degrees, practically all people, including straight, cisgender people, understand feelings of anxiety, depression, fear, powerlessness and being othered. We can also relate to being respected, influential, worthy, loved and included. Even though our circumstances are different, we can empathize with other people’s emotions and show kindness and courage in our actions.
BE KIND
Politely ask for someone’s pronouns and not their preferred pronouns. Asking about pronouns isn’t like asking for someone’s wine preference. An easy dialogue is to share yours first. For example, ‘My name’s Fiona, my pronouns are she, her. May I know your pronouns too, please?’ Put your pronouns on video calls, email signatures and introduce yourself with your pronouns regardless of who’s attending the meeting. We can never assume someone’s identity by the way they look.
Practice patience with all people in your life. Being patient with someone who is questioning or exploring their gender identity is extremely important. However, as no human being is born with a manual, it can take a while to figure ourselves out. Like cisgender people, trans individuals’ paths to know and express themselves are unique and personal. There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to transition, but there are right ways to be supportive, like affirming someone’s experience.
Use gender-inclusive language, always. Once you realize how we’re perpetuating sexist language, it’s hard to un-hear it. We’ve been using gender-neutral language our entire lives, too. For example, ‘I have a plumber coming to my house today, but I don’t know when they’ll be here.’ There are tons of listicles on the internet giving words to use instead of ‘Hey guys!’ as a greeting. ‘Hey, y’all!’ is my favourite.
BE COURAGEOUS
Speak up. Seriously, silence is complicit. Being a badass trans ally is rooted in using your voice in whichever form suits you best to not only call out violence and discrimination but to help educate those who don’t understand and are fearful of difference. Whether sharing books, films, or viral videos with loved ones, having a tough offline conversation, or backing someone up in public, being an upstander is critical for trans equality. Those who have gotten oppressed never won the rights of a minority without the support of the majority.
When you mess up, say you’re sorry and move on. The best-intentioned of us mess up but don’t rub salt into the wound by making your slip up the focus of the conversation. The trans individual you’re talking with doesn’t need an explanation of how hard you’re trying or how difficult it is for you to use their name, and they need you to keep doing your best since practice makes perfect.
Create a platform and recognize when to take a seat. Not all trans individuals want to explain or educate about their lives and bodies to the world. But some trans individuals do. Finding a balance between being a vocal advocate and not taking a stage when a trans person should be up is a call back to our self-awareness. Form genuine friendships with various people in your life and live with a mindset of abundance rather than lack. When you see an opportunity for a trans person to have a job they love or be seen and heard on a platform they admire, make introductions and step out of the way. Trans individuals have existed since humanity existed. Now is the time to decolonize our worldview of gender and sexuality and lift one another for our collective greater good.”
Four pro tips for how to be the best trans ally possible – Fiona Dawson, LGBTQ Nation
Celebrate Trans Awareness Week With Us – It Gets Better Project
What Being Trans Means! | Writing Our Dictionary – It Gets Better Project
