By Fareed Khan
As Canadians approach the end of Pride
Month and related activities wind down a new wave of hate is crashing on this
country’s shores and it is directed at the LGBTQ2 community.
The rising chorus of
hate speech and demonstrations across Canada directed at members of this community,
particularly those who are Transgender, poses a real and present danger to all
who identify as LGBTQ2. It is a clear
indication that not enough is being done by governments to push back against
the growing narratives of hate in Canada, and demonstrates why all levels of
government need to show leadership and take a united and coordinated approach to
fighting the pandemic of hate Canadians are witnessing.
Some governments and
politicians that want to diminish LGBTQ2 rights are also part of the problem as
their words and actions are contributing to the stigmatization of the LGBTQ2
community, and energizing those in society who harbour hate against them. In addition, it is emboldening neo-Nazis and
far right elements to act out their hateful feelings in public.
Three weeks ago New
Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs diluted the rights of LGBTQ2 students with his
proposal to water down a provincial policy around the rights and protections
for gender diverse students in school in the name of “family values”. In May People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime
Bernier made suppressing LGBTQ2 rights, and particularly Transgender
rights, a cornerstone of his party’s policy platform, despite a recent Supreme
Court decision which affirmed their rights.
In Ontario Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government refused to
act, despite calls to do so, when a number of school boards refused to raise
the pride flag as a message of inclusivity.
Federal Conservatives
have a severely blemished record on LGBTQ2 rights with their history of
opposing same sex marriage, Tory MPs voting against legislation to ban conversion
therapy, and allying with convoy protest leaders who embraced anti-LGBTQ2
and anti-Trans voices during the Ottawa occupation in 2022. This week Conservative Party leader Pierre
Poilievre gave homophobes and transphobes even greater license to spread their
hate by condemning
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for criticizing Premier Higgs’ policy change by
defending the rights of LGBTQ2 students in New Brunswick, and telling Trudeau to “butt
out” of provincial affairs even where human rights violations occur. This demonstrates once again that Poilievre
would let provincial governments violate human rights and even enable hate in the name of political
expediency.
The litany of
anti-LGBTQ2 hate speech online, in public demonstrations against Trans students
outside schools, against “Drag Storytime” events, and efforts by far right
politicians to take away the fundamental rights of people who are LGBTQ2,
particularly those who are Transgender, is a very dangerous development that
could result in tragedy if political leaders fail to act by committing sufficient
resources to fight it.
Some of those protesting
LGBTQ2
events or demanding the suppression of Transgender rights are the same
people who push neo-Nazi
and white supremacist narratives, and have also targeted other racialized
and religious minority communities. They
are spreading dangerous and offensive falsehoods about those who are LGBTQ2 to
promote a hate-fuelled agenda which could lead to deadly hate incidents similar
to what Canadian Muslims faced where 11 people were murdered since 2017 in
three separate hate-motivated incidents.
Each of those tragedies were the result of hate narratives and outrageous
conspiracy theories targeting that community.
It should be noted that
anti-hate activists believe that government programs to fight hate are proving
to be ineffective and insufficiently resourced given the increasing trend of
hate crimes over the past decade. Since
2012 police-reported hate
crimes have more than doubled, with hate crimes based on sexual orientation
or gender identity increasing by 77% and 64% respectively in 2021.
Police-reported hate
crimes have exploded over the last ten years, but this is only the tip of the
iceberg according to a 2019 study by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. The data compiled by the study’s authors
showed that more than 99%
of hate crime victims don't
file police reports. According to
the data Canadians are more likely to be victims of hate crimes than be
involved in a car accident. The
information from this study provides added ammunition to those who say that
whatever governments are doing to fight hate is neither effective nor enough,
and that more resources need to be committed to fighting hate by all levels of
government.
According to a study
conducted by the Pew
Research Center in the US 0.6% of adults in that country identify as
Transgender, and it is likely that Canada would have similar numbers. These Canadians comprise a very small segment
of the country’s population and pose no threat to the fabric of society. And yet those who trade in ideologies of
hate, including some politicians, industriously promote hatred, fear, and
physical revulsion of Transgender individuals, including children, by cloaking
their hate under the guise of “protecting children”.
Clearly what Canadians
are witnessing is a growing campaign of hate motivated by homophobia and
transphobia. It did not appear
overnight. It is the culmination of an
orchestrated campaign to stigmatize, dehumanize and vilify a minority community
that has faced a long history of discrimination and prejudice. Climaxing as it has during Pride Month, when
the LGBTQ2 community has been very much in the public eye, means that police
should treat anti-LGBTQ2 speech and those who participate in anti-Trans demonstrations
as hate crimes whenever and wherever they occur.
Anti-hate advocacy
groups have been calling on the Canadian government to lead an aggressive and
well-funded national anti-hate initiative for years, and governments should
take a zero tolerance approach to those who promote hate speech or commit hate
crimes. Such an initiative should bring
provincial and municipal governments on board as well to effectively blanket
all communities. The federal government’s
go slow approach when it comes to fighting hate in this country, whether it's
against the LGBTQ2 community or other minority communities, is unacceptable.
Regardless of our sexual
orientation or identity, skin colour, ethnicity, faith, nationality, or other
identifying characteristic everyone’s human rights must be protected and
defended. We all deserve respect, and
have a right to live in peace and be accepted for who we are. No one should be targeted or attacked because
they are somehow different. Anything
less is a breach of the social contract between Canadians and our governments,
and a failure of the vision of the “just society” that Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau spoke of more than 50 years ago.
© 2023 The View From Here. © 2023 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.