Friday’s march saw over 1500 supporters
On August 25, more than a thousand members of the Ottawa trans and gender-diverse community and their supporters marched through downtown, sending a message of pride, resilience, and solidarity.
What began as an Instagram post asking “trans and gender-diverse folks, the people who love and support them, and other allies” to join them became a sentimental day of celebration for the city’s trans community, as well as a cry for better protection and resources.
Transphobia has increased significantly in recent years around the world, most notably for the Canadian context, the United States where several hundreds of pieces of anti-trans legislation and sentiment have been introduced at the state and local levels in the past year. In Saskatchewan, a policy was introduced demanding parental permission for teachers to use students’ preferred names or pronouns.
Locally, the Ottawa Police Service has reported a 24 per cent increase in hate crimes this year, with the LGBTQ community being one of the most affected groups.
In an interview with the Fulcrum, Fae Johnston, one of the march’s organizer said “We have seen a staggering rise in anti-trans hate in the last three years, and it has impacted our schools and our young trans folks more than anyone else” Johnstoneis the executive director of consulting firm Wisdom2Action and a local trans rights activist.
Johnstone believes that now is a crucial time for trans and gender-diverse people, as well as their families, to care for each other and ensure that everyone — including young trans kids — have people to help then grow and thrive.
“I would also say it is time for school board trustees, and especially ministries of education, to redouble their commitment to trans and gender diversity inclusion, because we know our kids are still being bullied in our classrooms…” she said.
Organizers and collaborators of the march outlined seven demands for the march: “a world free of hate, harassment and indignity”; “universal health care inclusive of live-saving gender-affirming care health care”; “government investment in trans health, community, and social service organizations”; “greater support for trans and gender-diverse refugees”; “safer schools for trans youth”; “housing supports for homeless trans people, especially trans youth”; and “the full decriminalization of sex work”.
Johnstone explained that they wrote the demands in collaboration with the march’s organizing committee and other trans activists in Ottawa.
“These are also a throwback to calls to action that trans communities advocates have been rallying around for decades,” she said. “So they are both a new iteration and an expression of an advocacy agenda that has been in the works for decades.”
There were several speakers at the rally who detailed their love for the trans community, spoke out against the rising transphobia, and urged Ottawa to take greater action.
“I want you to know that despite what the world keeps telling us: you are beautiful, you are powerful, you are valid. You don’t need me to tell you that!” said Sharp Dopler, a non-binary, niizh-manitowag (two-Spirit) educator and speaker at the march.
Johnstone said that the march is about creating a better world for trans and gender-diverse people, young and old. “I want to send a message of solidarity and hope to trans and gender-diverse people all across the city,” she said. “I hope that the march shows that 15-year-old trans kid, who might not have a safe home or be surrounded by our community, that we will back them up, that we will defend their rights, and we will fight like hell to make sure that this city is safe for them.”
