The
September 20th protest organizers and their allies and those that supported
these protests are trying to eliminate the presence of those who are LGBTQ2
from schools and from the public space . . . This hateful agenda is being
supported by some conservative politicians who are using hate to further their
political ambitions and agendas.
By Fareed Khan
How did it come to this?
How is it that in the second decade
of the 21st Century Canadians are protesting the rights of those who are LGBTQ2,
trying to push back those hard won rights, and trying to erase the visibility
of people who are transgender from the public sphere and from schools in
particular? Did we not already deal with
the fight for equal rights for those who are LGBTQ2 in the 1990s and then
revisit and win similar battles in the 2000s when it came to equality of
marriage?
Recent heightened aggression and
outright narratives of hate
targeting the LGBTQ2 community are deeply troubling and dangerous, not just
to that community but to Canadian society at large. It is up to governments and Canadians at
large to ensure that the hateful societal and social media narratives that led
to Canadian Muslims being murdered in hate-motivated crimes over the last
several years does not get repeated with the LGBTQ2 community.
The recent surge in hate targeted
at this community started with protests opposing men dressed in drag doing “Drag Story
Time” events at libraries and schools.
However, the people protesting these events are clearly ignorant of the long
history of drag entertainment in our society.
Drag performances, whether men dressing as women or women dressing as
men, has been around since the era of black and white films, and even earlier
in some instances. During Shakespeare’s
lifetime and beyond men dressed as women to play female roles in the public
performance of plays. It was not unusual
and it certainly was not condemned.
Robin Williams, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Julie Andrews, Eddie Murphy and Eddie Redmayne,
are only some of
the high profile actors who have played roles of the opposite gender in
entertainment coming out of Hollywood, and their films were watched by tens of millions
of people (including children), unlike local Drag Story Time events.
Oscar winner Tom
Hanks got his big break playing a cross dressing character in the TV series
Bosom Buddies which ran for two
seasons in the 1980s. The CBC comedy series
The
Kids in the Hall ran for six seasons from 1989 to 1995, and at least one of the
characters dressed in drag for practically every episode, without outraged people
picketing the CBC for its "perversity". In fact, the films Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman and Victor, Victoria starring Julie Andrews
were nominated for Academy Awards. And
it would be remiss not to mention that The Rocky
Horror Picture Show, starring a young Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry in
the title role, became a cult classic.
The movie played at midnight every Friday at the Roxy
Theater in Toronto's east end from 1976 to 1983, with similar runs in
theaters in New York City and other cities across the US. Many people who showed up to these
screenings dressed as characters from the show, including many who came in drag
as Tim Curry's character. In none of the
instances mentioned was there the degree of venom and hate directed at those
involved in the production of these films or TV shows as Canadians have seen
over the past year towards local Drag Story Time events, or towards the LGBTQ2
community.
But for some reason Drag Story
Time, and then subsequently any LGBTQ2 event where children are present (like
pride parades), have become a “child safety” issue, an idea imported from far
right and fascist political and religious movements in
the US.
The
claim that protesting drag or LGBTQ2 events, or removing any mention of the
reality of sexual and gender diverse communities from school teaching materials
is about “protecting children” from “depravity”, or preventing “sexual
indoctrination”, is laughable and dangerous. It is no different than
historical narratives that painted Jews,
Black
men in the US south during the Jim Crow era, and gay
men as a threat to babies, white girls and children respectively. Such hate motivated narratives resulted in
the brutal beatings and murders of people from these communities. What better way to
isolate a minority community and portray them as a threat than to dehumanize
and demonize them, and propagate the fiction that they are “predators” who
target children? If we want to see examples of indoctrinating children
just look at children who mimic the prejudices and bigotry of their
parents. That sort of hate is learned behaviour. During the
protests there were multiple incidents of children shouting hateful slurs
targeting people who were gay, lesbian and transgender, as well as incidents of
children being told by parents to stomp on and tear up pride flags.
Parents who are protesting about “parental
rights” also need to understanding that their rights as parents do not supersede the basic
human rights of people (and kids in particular) who are gay, lesbian, queer, or
transgender to live in peace and equality under the law. These parents do not get to overturn the use
of government approved academic studies and materials used by teachers to make
students aware of the reality of sexual and gender diverse communities, and to create safe spaces. In fact, “parental rights” are not party of Canada’s Charter
of Rights and Freedoms, and since
there is no such thing those throwing
around that term need to get educated about what human rights are, and why children’s
rights (particularly if those children are part of a minority community) must
be protected.
For those who agreed with the
ideology underpinning the “march for children” protests, or oppose the very
concept of an LGBTQ2 community, they need lessons about why children who are
LGBTQ2 need to feel included in school activities, need to be seen as normal by
other kids, need to be protected, and need to have a safe space in their
schools. Canadians or our governments
would never accept such narratives if they were targeted Black people, Muslims,
Jews, or other racialized communities.
So why is there not an aggressive push back against the people pushing
dangerous narratives against the LGBTQ2 community?
The parents who joined these
protests, especially those who came from racialized and religious minority
communities, need to be aggressively educated about what the concept of human
rights truly is, and that just as kids need to learn about the reality and
history of Indigenous people, Black people, Muslims, Jews and other minority
communities in our society, they also need to learn about the reality of those
who are LGBTQ2, and the historic persecution they have faced. In addition, these parents need to shed their
ignorance and prejudice and learn that this community has a right to equality
under the law just as they do, and that the rights of people who are part of
this community must be protected and defended without exception the same way we
would defend the rights of other communities being attacked, and their right to
be visible in public spaces.
For those who cannot do that the
least they can do is not add to the ecosystem of hate through their support of
anyone, especially right
wing politicians, who are playing with a ticking time bomb by
supporting, endorsing or pushing hateful and ignorant anti-LGBTQ2 narratives. It is the only way that we can prevent the
fabric of our diverse and pluralistic society from being shredded, and from
letting a hateful minority change Canada for the worse.
Finally, for those of any faith
who use their faith’s teachings and scriptures to justify their view that “God
is against this”, how would they know since
they are not God? Religious teachings have
been twisted and misinterpreted by very flawed human beings with their own
prejudices and agendas for centuries. People of all faiths who believe in the existence
of a supreme deity have to accept that like all humans anyone who identifies as
LGBTQ2 was created by God. And if they
accept the idea that their God is a perfect being then how can anything He created be
imperfect?
The LGBTQ2 community is under
assault by hateful elements of society. The September 20th protest organizers, their
allies and supporters are trying to eliminate the presence of those who are
LGBTQ2 from schools and from the public space, and take back their fundamental
human rights protections. This hateful
agenda is being supported by some conservative politicians who are using hate
to further their political ambitions and agendas, and they must be opposed at
every turn.
Those who oppose hate and believe
in the sanctity of one’s fundamental Charter rights have to stand with those
who are LGBTQ2 and prevent Canada from becoming like the state of Florida, where
the government approved a “don’t say gay” law, which essentially criminalized
teaching kids about the reality of the sexual and gender diverse community.
If Canadians want to avoid this
country becoming like some US states where demonizing and vilifying the human
rights of people who are LGBTQ2 is becoming more frequent, then those who call
themselves human rights defenders have to be vocal, visible, and actively
oppose those voices, including conservative politicians and provincial governments,
that are are openly or quietly supporting and enabling this hate movement.
If we want to protect our
diverse, inclusive and pluralistic society it is as simple as that and it is up
to the silent majority of Canadians to make it happen.
© 2023 The View From Here. ©
2023 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.
