The fundamental rights of people who are LGBTQ2 are under assault like never before. How did it come to this?

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.

 

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