On June 19th, 2017, Canada’s Bill C-16 officially received royal assent, which effectively enshrined the bill into federal law. The bill aimed to provide protection and prevent discrimination against individuals based on their gender identity and gender expression. The Ontario Human Rights Commission defines gender identity as a person’s “sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum.” This was a huge win for the transgender community, as we were now officially a protected class under federal law. I’m lucky to live in a country that, while not perfect, still understands that I’m a human being, and I deserve things like basic human rights.
With all that said, there are still people out there that would love nothing more than to see me stripped of my basic human rights, and shoved back into the closet, or committed for psychiatric evaluation on no other than I’m transgender.
Our neighbours to the south, however, are fighting a war right now in regards to trans rights. In 2021, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill that bans trans girls from playing in women’s sports, and within 48 hours, signed yet another bill that allows doctors to turn away LGBTQ+ patients.
2021 had 147 pieces of legislation that specifically targeted trans individuals. To put that in perspective, 54 pieces of legislation were introduced in 2020, and 24 were introduced in 2019.
At the writing of this, we are only 3 months into 2022, and there is already evidence that this year may yet be the worst year on record for anti-transgender legislation.
New Hampshire introduced HB1651. This bill aims to add the definition of sexual reassignment to the definition of child abuse
Idaho introduced H0765 which states that any sort of genital mutilation, genital reconstruction, administering or supplying puberty-blocking medication designed to stop or delay normal puberty, Supraphysiological doses of testosterone to a female; or supraphysiological doses of estrogen to a male; or removing any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.
The bill goes on to state that gender transition “is never necessary to the health of the child on whom it is performed if it is for the sole purpose of attempting to change or affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex. . .”
The punishment for seeking actual treatment for a child with gender issues would find the people guilty of a felony, and the jail sentence of which is “a term of not more than life.”. This punishment and prison term is also applicable to “. . .whoever knowingly gives permission for, or permits a child, any act prohibited by” this bill.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott, after trying (and failing) to make transition illegal for everyone or even get it on the books, instructed the Department of Family and Protective Services to “. . .to conduct prompt and thorough investigations of any reported instances of Texas children being subjected to abusive gender-transitioning procedures.”
With this order, he’s also requiring doctors, nurses, educators, teachers, and apparently references Texas law which gives criminal penalties for failure to report such instances.
Texas, under the command of Greg Abbott, has effectively launched a “witch-hunt” against the transgender community, specifically against our youth.
In 2021, there were 50 trans people killed across the United States. These murders range from being shot in the head to being beaten to death, and only 16 states have laws that say the trans panic defense is illegal. What is the trans panic defense? The trans panic defense is a defense used in court to justify killing someone because you didn’t know they were trans. That’s only in the US. Worldwide, this number jumps to 375 in 2021.
It’s also important to know that almost all of the anti-trans efforts in the United States come from states that are republican-led, and republican/Christian-based organizations.
The United States has shown at this point, that trans lives mean nothing to them. They would rather legislate trans people back in the closet and attempt to erase us from existence whether literally making it impossible to live, or through making it okay to murder us for literally any reason. The US has become so polarized on the topic of trans rights, that they think trans people are out to erase their entire way of life when in reality, all we want to do is be left alone ot live our lives.
The sad reality is that they aren’t willing to count genocide and erasure off the table when it comes to trans people. That should frighten you all.
