Canadian Transphobes Thought Millions Would March For Them. It Didn't Quite Work Out That Way.

Counter-protesters supporting trans rights vastly outnumbered them.

Question.

What is it with the Right always trying to have their own million person marches? Like, A) Can’t they ever come up with their own material? and B) Why crib off of Louis Farrakhan, of all people? It’s weird.

Anyway … this Wednesday, Canadian transphobes tried to hold a multi-city 1 Million March 4 Children. They dreamt that busybodies in practically 100 cities and towns all over the Great White North would make their own kids walk out of school at 9 a.m. and take to the streets in order to chastise transgender people, children in particular, for existing. Indeed, to chastise the whole darn world for not being as shitty to trans people as they would like, under the guise of “protecting children,” who very likely do not give a flying shit what gender people identify as without the helpful assistance of weird, backwards, bigot parents from whom they will likely be estranged when they grow up.

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Specifically, the organizers — who were in cahoots with groups like Gays Against Groomers along with anti-abortion groups and groups supporting the anti-vax Freedom Convoys — said they were “advocating for the elimination of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum, pronouns, gender ideology and mixed bathrooms in schools.”

One wonders what kind of English (or French, depending) classes they plan to have without pronouns. Or how they are going to avoid having mixed bathrooms when trans girls are forced to use the boys' room and trans boys are supposed to use the girls’ room, which one imagines would create a whole lot more confusion and chaos than the opposite. (If their big fear is that cis boys are going to pretend to be trans girls in order to sneak into the girls’ bathroom … couldn’t they then also do that by claiming to be trans boys? And much more easily, as it would not require a costume change? Logic, clearly, is not a strong point for these types.)

The protests, in most areas, did not turn out very well for them.

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Erin Reed of Erin In The Morning reports that in cities like Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver, only a sparse few turned out for the bigots, who were wildly outnumbered by supporters of trans rights. Democratic leaders and teachers unions showed their support in the streets, while mayors and city governments flew progress pride flags and tweeted their support for trans youth.

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Unfortunately, this was not the case everywhere, as some cities in more conservative areas of the country saw about an equal turnout on both sides.

We often think of Canada as being a liberal wonderland — and in many respects, policy-wise, it can be. They have universal healthcare, an unusual number of peppy folk rock bands, a dog that travels from to town to town solving people’s problems and stopping Abe Vigoda from accidentally doing fur crimes, and it seems like they’re all super nice and polite. However, it’s not all sweetness and light. There was that guy who kept killing people and feeding them to his pigs, and there are conservative areas of the country that have started adopting anti-trans policies similar to those supported and enacted by US conservatives.

From Erin In The Morning:

Saskatchewan, for instance, has adopted a new policy alongside New Brunswick that requires transgender students to inform parents if they wish to change their pronouns in schools. The education minister of Ontario, Stephen Lecce, likewise indicated his support for parental notification. Meanwhile, Canadian conservatives, lead by Pierre Poilievre, have recently adopted a set of platform positions that include trans bathroom bans, sports bans, and gender affirming care bans.

If there is any indication that these groups do not give one solitary damn about children, it is these parental notification laws, which put children at risk of abuse, being kicked out of their homes or worse. Kids know their own parents and know whether or not it is safe to tell them something like this — and the sick thing is that those advancing these laws know that and are hoping that fear of their parents finding out will keep kids in the closet at least until they graduate.

It’s good (and important) that every time these people try to go out they are met with resistance, because it’s their belief that they represent the majority that strengthens them and motivates them to keep doing what they are doing. But 70 percent of Canadian parents say that if they had a trans child, they would do whatever they could to accommodate them, and while it’s certainly not perfect, that’s the real majority.