Transgender rights bill gutted by

'transphobic' Senate amendment

Conservative senator's amendment exempts sex-specific locations like
washrooms, crisis centres, prisons
By Janyce McGregor, CBC News Posted: Feb 27, 2015 10:19 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 27, 2015 12:29 PM ET

Gender studies major Marlena Boyle participates in a sit-in protest in a men's washroom at Simon Fraser University
in Burnaby, B.C. last week. The student group was concerned about a lack of gender-inclusive washrooms on
campus to make transgender students more comfortable. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

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Advocates for Canadian transgender rights legislation were set back and frustrated with what they say is a
"transphobic" Senate committee amendment that limits the effectiveness of the bill.
NDP MP Randall Garrison's private member's bill, C-279, seeks to fight hate crimes against transgender individuals
by adding gender identity provisions to both the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Randall Garrison, the LGBT critic for the NDP, introduced private member's legislation to strengthen antidiscrimination protections against the transgender community. (ndp.ca)
"We still want to support the bill, because it's important for the trans community, but if it's going to have the
amendment in it that restricts our use of washrooms and public facilities... no," said Amanda Ryan from the advocacy
group Gender Mosaic.
"It's a bad bill with that amendment in it. We want to fight as hard as we can to have that removed," she told CBC
News Network's Power & Politics on Thursday.
The bill passed in the House of Commons almost two years ago, thanks to 18 votes from a divided Conservative
caucus. Even cabinet ministers were split on the issue.

Commons approves transgender rights bill

On Wednesday at the Senate committee finally tasked with reviewing the legislation, Conservative Senator Don Plett
introduced three amendments.
Garrison told reporters he didn't have a problem with two of them:

One is a tactical amendment to make it correspond to other legislation, like C13, the Tories' cyberbullying legislation.

The other removes a definition for gender identity not included in his original
bill, but added by Commons Conservatives to clarify its application before
passage.

The third amendment, however, exempts places like prisons, crisis centres, and public washrooms and change
rooms from the bill's provisions. That, Garrison says, is "transphobic."

"That particular amendment is deeply troubling to transgendered people," said Independent Liberal Senator Grant
Mitchell, who had sponsored the bill in the Senate and led senators from his party in voting against the change.
"I want to acknowledge here, on the record, the deep pain that it causes them," Mitchell said.

Washrooms controversial
Public gender-specific bathrooms can be difficult for transgender individuals. Not only may they find them awkward,
but also some experience harassment or even violence as a result of not fitting in with traditional gender roles.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal supports adding transgender identity to federal anti-discrimination legislation
to promote acceptance and tolerance.

'We aren't a man in a dress. We are women.'- Amanda Ryan

While some MPs argued that the transgender community already is protected on the basis of sex and disability, the
tribunal favours more explicit legal protection.
Critics of the bill dubbed it "the bathroom bill," warning that pedophiles could be protected when they lurked in public
bathrooms. They also feared abused women would not feel comfortable among transgender individuals who had
biologically male characteristics.

Conservative MP Rob Anders said a private member's bill by NDP MP Randall Garrison's to protect the rights of
transgender Canadians is a bathroom bill, adding that its goal was giving men access to women's washrooms.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Before the Commons vote in 2013, Conservative MP Rob Anders tabled a petition "on behalf of thousands,"
saying "these constituents feel that it is the duty of the House of Commons to protect and safeguard our children from
any exposure and harm that would come from giving a man access to women's public washroom facilities."
Plett said this week that "this was the major issue raised with us from concerned citizens across the country, most
importantly from the operator of an abused women's shelter on a First Nations reserve.
"This in no way hinders human rights protection for the transgendered community. They will still be a recognized
group under the Canadian Human Rights Act, and will not be able to face discrimination," the senator said.

'It's insulting'
"I believe that theres a small group of senators who are trying to kill the bill, and the Senate Conservative leadership
is allowing them to do so," Garrison told reporters in advance.
When the bill's amendments carried at the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee Wednesday, supporters
of transgender rights walked out.
Ryan, who does outreach for transgender rights, told Power & Politics she has been in women's shelters talking to
both clients and staff about how to interact, and it's simply not true that a problem exists.

Senator Don Plett introduced three amendments to C-279 on Wednesday, one of which exempts public washrooms
and change rooms from the legislation's protections. (Parliament of Canada)
"A transwoman is a woman. That's a point that has been missed in a lot of these conversations," Ryan told host Evan
Solomon. "We aren't a man in a dress. We are women. We were born with the wrong biological parts but we try to act
and behave as women."

Ryan said hearing senators like Plett refer to transgender individuals like herself as "biological males" may be
technically correct, "but it's insulting."
"There's no recognition of who we are. They've done no homework to find out who a transgendered person is," she
said.
The bill now returns to the full Senate for final votes. It's possible the committee's amendments would be rejected at
the report stage or third reading of the bill in the Senate, but such rejections are rare.
The legislation then returns to the House, where it may not come up for consideration until late spring. The House
can accept or reject the Senate's amendments.
With the fast-diminishing time available in this Parliament before an expected general election, it appears unlikely the
bill will pass all the necessary stages in both chambers.