Lakritz: Transgender people are just like the rest of us
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald February 15, 2011
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Lakritz+Transgender+people+just+like+rest/4290120/story.html#ixzz1Ee8fIlKi

Here we go again. A group of law-abiding people whose sexual orientation differs from the majority may be granted rights - and suddenly, pedophiles have carte blanche to run amok among us.
Back when the topic of the day was the legalizing of same-sex marriages, those opposed indulged in dire soothsaying. They said gay marriage would open the door to pedophiles demanding the right to marry children, not to mention people marrying animals, polygamy being legitimized, and oh, let's not forget that gay marriage was destined to undermine straight marriages, too.
Gay marriage became legal in Canada in 2005. Since then, pedophiles have not lobbied for the right to marry children, nobody has entered holy matrimony with their dog, polygamy remains illegal and straight marriages continue to fall apart due to the bad behaviour of the individuals in them, not because some gay couple down the street is wearing wedding rings.
Now the same hue and cry has arisen over Bill C-389, a private member's bill that would ban discrimination based on transgendered or transsexual status. The bill, brought in by NDP MP Bill Siksay, passed the House of Commons recently, but is predicted to be killed in the Conservative-stacked Senate. It seeks to make gender expression and identity part of the Human Rights Act, and to categorize crimes against transgender people as hate crimes under the Criminal Code.
Sadly, this bill has become known as the Bathroom Bill because its detractors believe it's all about allowing transgendered men into women's washrooms. Apparently, these men have been salivating to get into the ladies' rooms of the nation to sate their voyeuristic desires. If the bill passes, supposedly they will have the blessings of the Canadian government to do just that.
Blake Richards, MP for Wild Rose, told the media: "It really is a bit of a slippery slope.... We talk about someone with their gender identity, and I guess what it boils down to, my take on the matter is we open the door to pedophiles or peeping toms to use the washroom of the opposite gender and claim gender identity."
Charles McVety, president of the Institute for Canadian Values, declared that "Bill C-389 is a danger to our children," and added, "If 'gender identity' is enshrined in the Criminal Code of Canada, any male at any time will be permitted in girls' bathrooms, showers and change rooms as long as they have an 'innate feeling' of being female."
Alissa Golob, of Campaign Life, in an interview with LifeSiteNews, lumped Bill C-389 in the category of "attacks on the family" and suggested the bill's passage would lead to "transgenderism (being) taught in school as something that's natural and normal." I'm surprised nobody's yet warned that transgender people will begin recruiting our kids, but I'm sure such nonsense will be forthcoming.
I guess since gay marriage turned out to be a complete fizzle as far as undermining straight couples, these people have to find something else to stoke the fires of their pathetic indignation.
Bill C-389 should be debated solely on its merits. The bill is not about legitimizing criminal behaviour. It does not make voyeurism or pedophilia legal.
Debating the bill on its merits means deciding whether existing legislation already provides transgender people enough protection against discrimination and hate crimes.
Just as the vast majority of gays are law-abiding citizens and productive contributors to society, who have no prurient interest in children - a concern of those who opposed gay marriage - so, too, are transgender people. They're ordinary folks who simply want to be left alone, just like the rest of us, to live their lives and enjoy the same basic rights and freedoms as everyone else.
I've often wondered just what it is that the critics of this bill, and before that, of gay marriage, would like these folks to do. Repent for being gay or for being transsexuals? Stop being true to themselves and live the way their opponents think they should? Accept the status of second-class citizens and quit talking about human rights to which they should realize they're obviously not entitled? Know their "place" as black people were expected to for so long in the American South? Indulge in orgies of self-hatred and guilt for being hardwired the way they are? Disappear from society?
It's sad that the level of public discourse has to dip so low when a minority group stands to be offered equal rights.
Bill C-389 is neither an attack on the family nor a danger to any child. The legitimization of gay marriage touched only the lives of gay people. A law that protects transgender people will have no effect on anyone except those who are of a mind to discriminate. The only "danger" it poses is to the attitudes of those who would treat transgender people as unequal to everyone else.

Naomi Lakritz is a Herald columnist. nlakritz@calgaryherald.com.  © Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

MP defends vote against protecting transsexuals
A New Brunswick MP is defending his decision to vote against a bill that aims to bolster protection for transgendered and transsexual Canadians.
Bill C-389 narrowly passed its House of Commons vote on Feb. 9 and is before the Senate. It drew support from the province's Liberal MPs, but all six of the province's Conservative MPs voted against it.
The NDP private member's bill seeks to add protection to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code for those who've changed gender or are in transition.
It could face a roadblock in the Conservative-dominated Senate.
Mike Allen, the MP for Tobique-Mactaquac, said he had reasons to oppose the bill. He said there is adequate protection under current legislation.
"The way that human rights tribunals and courts are determining it … I believe they were already protected under existing legislation," he said.
Allen said his constituents largely opposed the bill and told him so.
"I got very few emails from my riding on this issue," he said. "Most emails from my riding were asking me to vote against the bill."
When asked, Allen said he had not consulted with any transgendered or transsexual people, nor any groups that represent them, to get their thoughts on the bill.
The other Conservative MPs declined to be interviewed about their vote.
Nationally, the vote mostly went along party lines, with Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and NDP largely backing it and the Conservatives opposing it. it passed 149 votes for to 134 against.