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Allan Stratton's avatar

It is entirely accurate that South Carolina's HB2 is appalling, but until the final paragraphs this article fails to mention that what Poilievre said is in no way comparable to HB2. In fact, what he said is very much in line with the UK's Equality Act, supported by all parties including Keir Starmer's Labour Party. At the moment, Canada has self-identification as the sole criteria for access which invites abuse and has caused issues in various change rooms. If Poilievre had wanted to embrace this issue he would have said that his government would pass a UK Equality Act equivalent, but he explicitly ruled out any change to self-ID.

In my view, Poilievre took a note from the media's attempts to trap conservatives with gotcha questions on social issues; for instance, the way Andrew Scheer was repeatedly asked about abortion. Instead of saying, "I personally oppose abortion, but I respect the Supreme Court's ruling which affirms it", he dodged and media and progressive parties had a field day portraying him as having a hidden agenda. So, Poilievre has taken the issue off the table by saying his personal position but making clear he doesn't see it as a federal matter.

I also think there's a bit of a "gotcha" in the demonization of the word "biological". Surely "women with penises" is more offensive. Every decent person supports trans civil rights and the right of anyone to present as they wish; the points at issue (sports, change rooms) concern biology; the only reason the term "biological males and females" has arisen is because activists have attempted to swap self-identified gender for biology.

As a final aside, I think far too much has been made of Westlock's decision. I'm gay and appreciate that there are rainbow crosswalks in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver that have identifiable LGB and T areas. But we're talking about a little town of 4,800 souls with barely enough crosswalks for a single can of white paint. In that context, I'd feel totally embarrassed to have crosswalks specifically celebrating my sexuality. It's as absurd as crosswalks painted to celebrate races, religions, and national flags. It was clearly advanced by a handful of well-meaning high school students who have no idea how in a small live-and-let-live community, such overt peacocking encourages backlash.

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Sad_Mom's avatar

Rahim, I appreciate the broader perspective that you offer on the impact of the bathroom bill, and your caution against wading into bathroom and birth certificate territory.

In years past, I too thought that maybe conservatives were inflating or exaggerating this issue to appeal to their base.

I tend to lean centre-left. I think adults should be free to make their own choices about their bodies.

But.

The years since then have been a shitshow. Men can literally wake up one morning and declare themselves to be women. That gives them access to women’s bathrooms and change rooms.

Are there a lot? No. But there are men that will do this in order to attack women. Reddux and the Daily Mail have been reporting these cases for years while MSM looks the other way.

Even if I accept that most trans women do not want to harm women and “just want to pee” there is overwhelming evidence that men who are predators will use this access to harm women.

So then my question is, how many women are supposed to bear the brunt of this, to keep the economy, the NBA games and the Netflix productions humming along?

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