#ShameOnABLEG #TransYouth

Statement of Solidarity: At ASPECC we will fight tooth and nail to prevent any province or federal government from restricting the rights of transgender, 2spirit, and/or queer people of Canada.

This has been an incredibly difficult post to write. Like many you, I was devastated to see Marlaina Smith’s newest attack on the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. I feel so many things… Fear for what this will do for the most vulnerable of our community (youth, trans youth, trans youth of colour), rage that she is spewing hateful rhetoric and dismantling human rights, despair that it feels like we are moving backwards and grief that we have to give up some of the gains we have made, as a society, as humans, because of folk like her.

Also, there is a sense of determination and resignation. This is not the first time we (those who advocate for human rights for the queer community) have faced this kind of pushback, this kind of mindless hate. It is not the first time we have had to protest, to fight, just for the right to exist and be here. It certainly isn’t the first time our identies and humanness have been under attack as a political move.

Marlaina has some strange ideas about transgender youth, and it breaks my heart to read the comments (DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS) on media posts about this piece of crap proposal she has made.

1. She is going to ban gender reassignment surgery for those 17 and under. Personally, I can’t wait until she finds out that the only surgeries like this are fictional, or due to medical emergencies. Cis women who are adults can’t even get their tubes tied, and somehow she thinks kids are willy nilly getting sex reassignment surgery? WTF.
2. There will be no puberty blockers or hormone therapies for teh purpose of such surgery for anyone under 15, unless they have already begun such surgery. Again, this simply is not a problem that required solving.
3. Parental consent for name changes/pronoun changes. This is the one that pisses me off to no end. There are COPIOUS amounts of studies examining the reason for youth to be allowed affirming care at school (meaning, using their name and pronouns) without parental involvement. This is about preserving life and health

What becomes quickly evident, is that Smith intends to ensure that trans youth no longer receive care in Alberta. That they no longer have access to safe spaces, puberty blockers, or doctors to talk to them about steps they can take in adulthood. And if she succeeds (and we are all going to work our asses off to ensure she does not) she will be after queer adults next.

Statement of Solidarity: At ASPECC we will fight tooth and nail to prevent any province or federal government from restricting the rights of transgender, 2spirit, and/or queer people of Canada.

*About Marlaina’s name. If she can’t allow trans youth the respect and dignity of using their preferred name, then I will be using her birth name. Only because it makes me feel less helpless.