Leaders accountable for the fires they stoke

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This article was published 23/02/2024 (618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LGBTTQ+ Canadians have always had good reason to be wary of the institutions which govern them and even the people they live alongside. But it seems as though, in 2024, things get worse by the day.

That seems to be an opinion shared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which told the CBC last week the agency believes further violence could erupt against the LGBTTQ+ community from extremists riled by increasing LGBTTQ+ visibility and advocacy. CSIS pointed out, in its statement to the CBC, that there is overlap in these “anti-gender” views, capturing followers of various extremist movements from Neo-Nazi groups to followers of the sprawling QAnon conspiracy theory.

Rhetoric against LGBTTQ+, and particularly transgender and non-binary people has been especially heated for much of the past year, with “parental rights” activists taking a prominent position in resisting the use of gender-neutral (or otherwise alternative) pronouns or their children at school without their knowledge. And what’s more, these protests do not allege a simple difference of opinion on the issue — many activists on the parental-rights front freely hurl accusations of pedophilia and sexual grooming at anyone supportive of trans students’ rights to confidentiality.

And as the rhetoric has grown more vicious, violence has followed. In Toronto, in November last year, three youth were charged in an attack against a member of the city’s LGBTTQ+ community. Two people were stabbed at the University of Waterloo when a man attacked a gender studies class in September. And these are only Canadian examples — earlier this month, gender-fluid Oklahoma student Nex Benedict was severely beaten in the bathroom at Owasso School by three older girls. Benedict died the following day. Investigators have not definitively stated the student’s death is a direct result of the attack, though advocates argue the two events, as well as bullying of Benedict which preceded the bathroom assault, are undoubtedly related.

Benedict’s story is tragic. It’s also instructive, because some advocates point to the state’s role in the student’s ostracization: Oklahoma had recently pushed through legislation requiring students to use the bathroom for their gender at birth.

Which brings us back around to the situation here in Canada.

LGBTTQ+ people in Alberta and across the country — and their allies — were dismayed at Premier Danielle Smith’s plans to restrict transgender youths’ medical options and put policies in place at schools surrounding pronoun use. But this apparent hostility towards a minority group has also spread to the federal level.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Wednesday stated he believes “biological males” should be banned from competing in women’s sports, as well as change rooms and bathrooms. This comes after Poilievre earlier agreed with Smith’s policy that puberty blockers should not be given to transgender youth.

For Poilievre to take these positions means a couple of things. For one, it means the debate of “how extreme is Pierre Poilievre prepared to get to win votes?” has been pretty much settled.

Secondly, and most damningly, it means Poilievre is either ignorant of, or callous to, the reality that forcing transgender, non-binary or two-spirit Canadians to use facilities corresponding to their gender at birth will needlessly put them at greater risk of harassment and/or violence.

For a federal leader of Poilievre’s stature, and for a provincial premier, to push these policies is undoubtedly going to embolden extremists and increase the likelihood of further tragedy.

CSIS is worried it’s going to get worse out there. If they turn out to be right, Poilievre, Smith and like-minded leaders across the country will have the weight of those tragedies on their heads.