PROTECT TRANS KIDS!
“Irrespective of your faith, heritage, sexual orientation, or colour of skin, our government is firmly committed to the safety and well-being of all children in Ontario schools,”
– A spokesperson for Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce. Sept 19, 2023.
Do you see anything missing here in this statement by the Minister’s office?
This statement was issued a day before September 20th, the day of the “Million Person March”. A protest against “gender ideology”– against the “indoctrination” of children in public schools.
They say that they aren’t against transgender people and the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole. They say that they “oppose the school systems promoting LGBTQ2S+ issues in ways that they believe go against the values and beliefs they want to raise their children with”.
“We firmly believe that all publicly funded schools must be safe spaces for all children, regardless of race, heritage, faith, sexuality, and gender.”
– Stephen Lecce . June 2, 2023.
Have you figured out what was missing in that first quote? Gender. They erased gender. It hasn’t even been four months since this message from Lecce and they’ve already changed their position. What’s even more wild is that they don’t even need to say it, all they need to do is remove a word.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a problem exclusive to Conservatives.
“I’d expect parents to be informed in the context of regular hand holding between two 7 year olds at recess over an extended period”
– Nate Erskine-Smith, Liberal Member of Parliament, and Leadership Candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party. Sept 19, 2023.
Those protesters that were up on Parliament Hill say that they aren’t against queer people, but not only is that a lie, but it’s so much more than that. They want to erase us, they want to bury us in the pages of history and pretend that we don’t exist.
We do, holy shit, we do. No, it’s not a trend, we’ve existed for not decades, not centuries, but thousands of years. But that doesn’t matter to those protesters on the hill.
It doesn’t matter if I talk about the history of Two-Spirited people among Indigenous communities. It won’t matter if I bring up the fact that Two-Spirited people have been around long before the Europeans arrived.
I could even bring up the history of Hijras and the third gender in Hindu society, but it wouldn’t matter. And of course, it won’t change a damn thing if I talk about the fact that queer and trans people have been proven by historians to exist throughout western history as well.
Those crowds that marched through the streets all across the country, while accusing queer people, my people, of indoctrinating children don’t care about any of it. These are the people that took their kids out of school on a school day and made them hold signs that read “I BELONG TO MY PARENTS”.
They don’t even care if we’ve existed since the dawn of human civilization. They just want us gone. They want us erased. Out of sight, out of mind. Much like we were for much of human history.
Fuck that. We’re not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere.
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out of–because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.”
– Martin Niemöller. 1946.
If you aren’t a part of the queer community, but are still horrified by what’s happening to us; it’s time you come and you help. It’s time to sign petitions, it’s time to go to protests, it’s time to give money to good causes, it’s time to have tough conversations, and it’s time to speak out.
We have gotten so far, and people don’t realize that progress isn’t always linear, we need to keep fighting the good fight.
