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Most of an article from the June People's Voice, a Canada-wide monthly newspaper from Vancouver, B.C. It came to us via Gender Advocacy Internet News(GAIN), penn45@ma.ultranet.com.

It's A Queer Thing:
The Movement for Transgendered Rights in Canada

By Chris Frazer (Christopher_Frazer@brown.edu)

In 1992, transgender activist Leslie Feinberg - an American Marxist - published Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come, a call for gender-queers to fight the oppressive gender ideology of capitalism.

Feinberg's manifesto coincided with an upsurge in political organizing by trans-activists in the United States, who have pushed forward the struggle to win civil rights for trans-people in states like Minnesota and many municipalities across the USA.

The movement is now coalescing in Canada, where two recent developments have focused greater public attention on the presence of transgendered persons and their issues.

At the Toronto IFGE Convention

In Toronto, more than 250 transgendered delegates arrived from across Canada, the USA, England, and Australia for the 12th Annual convention of the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), March 23-29.

The IFGE gathering addressed a range of topics - from human rights, to HIV, trans-prisoners, gender theory, spirituality, marriage and relationships, and "how-to" make-up sessions - that reflect the diversity of politics and issues that concern male-to-female and female-to-male transexuals, crossdressers, gender-queers, and many others who simply do not conform to "conventional" gender identity norms.

Meeting for the first time outside the USA, the convention illustrated the extent to which the transgendered community is becoming organized and visible - and that there are real possibilities for confronting stereotypes and discrimination.

Miqqi Alicia Gilbert - also known as Michael A. Gilbert - is a philosophy professor at York University. As a "committed crossdresser," Gilbert is a part of the new wave of trans-people who are no longer prepared to remain hidden and silent.

This trend is especially evident at universities and colleges where many academics are not only "coming out," but are also researching and teaching "transgender studies." And equally as impressive are the growing numbers of young people, both on and off campus, who "are confronting their transgenderism at an earlier age," said Gilbert.

Gilbert is a member of Xpressions, an Ontario-based support group which hosted the IFGE meeting. For many years, such groups provided a much- needed network of contacts for transgendered people, many of whom remain closeted in the absence of reliable protection against discrimination.

But things are starting to change. It may not have been surprising to see Toronto playwright Sky Gilbert mingling with delegates. But Miqqi Gilbert could not suppress a chuckle when telling the People's Voice that Ontario Tory Premier Mike Harris supported the Xpressions bid for the conference with a machine-signed form letter. "I'm not sure that he really knows what he signed," said a delighted Gilbert.

Protection Under the Law

Far more significant was the speech of Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Keith Norton who told surprised delegates that transgendered persons are protected in Ontario under the province's sexual orientation provisions, but that the time had come to include specific reference to the transgendered in the provincial human rights act.

"He began doing research and discovered that we are the least protected people," said Gilbert. At present, only Quebec offers explicit human rights protection for the transgendered.

Many queer and transgendered activists argue that protections based on sexual orientation are insufficient for checking discrimination against trans-people. Groups like the International Conference on Transgendered Law and Employment Policy (ICTLEP) point out that transgendered persons have the same range of sexual orientation as non-transgendered people.

The issue is also one of physical appearance and how this reflects gender identity, which is why many trans-activists believe that human rights protections must be extended to include provisions on gender identity as well as on sexual orientation.

This is the question facing activists in British Columbia who are struggling to prevent the NDP government from sweeping human rights protection for transgendered people under the carpet.

In British Colombia

In January 1998, the B.C. Human Rights Commission urged the adoption of eleven amendments to the provincial Human Rights Code, including one that would "prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity."

The amendment would provide recourse for transgendered people who presently face a largely unchecked range of discrimination and hate crimes, said Victoria-based activist Gail Owen in an interview with the People's Voice.

"In this province, transgendered persons are attacked every day of the year. They are beaten up, fired from their jobs, denied medical attention, and discriminated against in the court system," said Owen, who is a male-to-female transgendered person. She is also a business agent for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and was formerly a provincial organizer for the NDP.

Owen served on the Transgendered Advisory Committee for the B.C. Human Rights Commission, which heard from hundreds of witnesses, including male-to-female and female-to-male transexuals, crossdressers, and drag queens and kings, during the autumn of 1997.

However, B.C. Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh wants to shelve the amendments. Owen believes that the NDP government is afraid of a backlash from the religious right-wing and the opposition Liberals.

Last year's recall campaign against three NDP legislators started when the religious right-wing took up the cudgel against elected officials who supported gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights.

The Liberals also oppose protection for transgendered persons. Liberal human rights critic Jeff Plant cynically hides his trans-phobia by arguing that the timing is wrong. That's the same kind of logic that racists used to defend segregation in the USA and apartheid in South Africa.

However, the fight is far from over, and trans-activist are not alone.

Among those supporting the amendments are the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Victoria and District Labour Council, the B.C. Teachers Federation, and - despite the legislative wing's equivocation - the provincial NDP.

Transgender activists and their allies are stepping up pressure on the B.C. government. They are urging supporters to call the Attorney General at 250-387-1866.

Many hope that the struggle will be strengthened by the recent Supreme Court decision (Vriend vs. Alberta), which ruled that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground for discrimination and must be included in Alberta's Individual Rights Protection Act.

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Copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation.

NewsPlanet Staff (with thanks to Alejandra Sarda, ILGA)
July 10, 1998

SUMMARY: ILGA participation in the "Vienna +5 Conference" made certain that L/G/B/T people are included in the international consideration of human rights.

An international gathering on human rights last month affirmed a declaration on "Sexual Orientation and Human Rights," with specific recommendations to the United Nations, governments and non-governmental organizations for achieving basic human rights for all people.

Alejandra Sarda of Buenos Aires has circulated a report of her participation on behalf of the Women's Secretariat of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) with ILGA Regional Co-Secretary for Latin America Orlando Montoya Herrera at the "Vienna +5 Conference," a meeting of 250 representatives of 100 social and civil organizations (non-governmental organizations, or NGOs) in Ottawa June 22 - 24, gathered to evaluate the global human rights situation five years after the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. "Vienna +5" was organized by Human Rights Internet in an effort to fill the gap when the United Nations failed to follow through on its own plans for a follow-up to the Vienna meeting. The most notable product of the Ottawa meeting for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people (L/G/B/T) was the document on "Sexual Orientation and Human Rights," which was included in the conference's Final Declaration (the document is reproduced in its entirety in the following NewsPlanet story). This Declaration fills another gap, as sexual orientation was entirely omitted from the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Action Program.

Sarda also describes inclusion of L/G/B/T in a number of other products of the conference. The "Declaration of Worker's Rights" specifically mentions sexual orientation and gender identity with respect to discrimination in hiring, job retention and promotion; benefits for same-gender couples; and sexual harassment. The working group on torture specifically recognized forced treatments designed to change sexual orientation or gender identity as a form of torture and demanded their elimination. The "Declaration on Violence, Gender and Bodily Integrity" includes a statement that, "The appropriate United Nations agencies should conduct a worldwide investigation of current medical procedures inflicted on intersexed persons (those born with ambiguous genitalia) with a view toward the adoption of measures for the protection of intersexed persons' rights to bodily integrity, personal identity and adequate health care." As the working group on Impunity considered "social cleansing operations," its declaration included specific mention of L/G/B/T who are murdered, kidnapped or disappeared without police response. The declaration on Refugees noted that L/G/B/T experience forced migration, but are granted refugee status in only a handful of nations. Sarda herself had the opportunity to request explicit mention of defenders of the rights of L/G/B/T in the "Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders."

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NewsPlanet Staff (with thanks to Alejandra Sarda, ILGA)
July 10, 1998

SUMMARY: Here is the complete "Sexual Orientation and Human Rights" report, submitted for inclusion in the Final Declaration of the Vienna +5 Conference.

The following document was produced by the working group on Sexual Orientation and Human Rights, chaired by ILGA representatives Orlando Montoya and Alejandra Sarda, at the Vienna +5 Conference, Ottawa, Canada (June 22-24, 1998), and included in the Final Declaration (see previous NewsPlanet story).

Sexual Orientation and Human Rights

Not a single reference was made to sexual orientation both in the Declaration and the Action Program of Vienna 1993. In order to do justice to the many women and men whose Human Rights are violated all over the world for their being lesbians, gays, bisexual or transgendered, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) meeting in Ottawa state:

That the United Nations Humans Rights Committee has recently affirmed, that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) encompasses equality for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered people around the world.

The central principle of non-discrimination ensures that no one shall be excluded from the full enjoyment of human rights by virtue of characteristics of identity status.

In too many countries, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people continue to face discrimination at many levels, including in employment and access to services (education, health, social security), inequality in criminal and civil law, violence and harassment, other threats to life, failure to recognize relationship and families and lack of support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth.

This Conference urges the UN:

1. The formulation of a concrete declaration which condemns all discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity.

2. To take all possible measures to ensure that member states end all discrimination based on sexual orientation.

3. To call upon all States to enact and enforce legislation that protects the "Dignity and worth of the human person" as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, irrespective of sexual orientation.

4. To investigate patterns of murders and gross violations of human rights perpetrated against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or marital status and to enact legislation that prohibits all forms of violence committed on the basis of sexual orientation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the "inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family".

5. Solicit specific information about the status of sexual minorities in country reports submitted to all human rights monitoring bodies.

6. In addition to the above stated measures to protect lesbian, gays, bisexual and transgendered people, to also produce and disseminate educational materials to help eradicate homophobia and discrimination based on sexual orientation.

We call government to:

1. Take penal actions and pursue other sanctions against any individual or groups, including police officers, prison guards, and other workers in the criminal justice system, who subjects lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered people to discrimination, harassment, torture or ill treatment, including rape and sexual abuse, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

2. Recognize forced psychiatric incarceration, drugging, and electroshock of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered people, as forms of torture in violation of international law, and prosecute the perpetrators of such acts.

3. Revise medical definitions of lesbianism and homosexuality in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines which state that homosexuality is not a "sexual abnormality" or disease.

4. Promulgate laws to protect citizens from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or marital status in all realms of life, including employment, housing, health care, and education.

5. Repeal all laws and change all policies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or marital status and which are used disproportionately against sexual minorities, including laws that penalize same-sex relations or the promotion of homosexuality.

6. Afford same-sex partnerships full protection of the law in areas of pension and inheritance rights, taxation and social security, custody rights, adoption rights, access to donor insemination, and all other areas in which discriminatory policies and practices currently exist.

7. Revise laws, policies and administrative practices regarding refugees and migrants to ensure lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people equal treatment with regard to freedom of movement, including the right not to be returned to a place of persecution.

8. Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and all other international instruments for the protection of human rights. In submitting reports to the appropriate international and regional treaty-monitoring bodies, include information on the ability of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people to enjoy the relevant rights and freedoms: steps being taken at the national and local levels to remove obstacles to their full enjoyment of these rights and freedoms; and provisions for their protection.

9. The condemnation of so called "social cleansings" which are seen, among other things, in the murder of sexual workers, gays, lesbians, transgendered, street children, people with special needs, and other social groups who are discriminated against by society.

10. Recognize that widespread societal prejudice severely constrains the ability of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people to participate in civic and political life, and take steps to counter such prejudice with Human Rights education that emphasizes the need to protect the human rights of all persons, including lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered people.

11. Ensure that all sex education and health care materials, campaigns and services include information relating to lesbian, gays, bisexual and transgendered people and their needs.

We call on non-governmental organizations to:

1. Work in coalition with existing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered organizations to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of sexual orientation.

2. Promote awareness among non-governmental organizations of the barriers that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people face in participating in public life. Promote human rights education that raises awareness regarding the human rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation.

3. Institute policies prohibiting discriminations based on sexual orientation in all aspects of the organization's work, including employment practices.

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