Regarding the rise in Anti Trans & Queer discourse

As some of you may be aware in recent months the United-States has seen a massive spike in violence targeted at Trans and Queer people. This has been happening at the State level through bills being passed to suppress and eliminate Trans youth and at the local level by White Supremacist and “the far right” targeting Pride events. We in Canada are not free of this danger as we have seen throughout Pride month this year; the public spaces where we gather with our community are being attacked by threats of violence. Libraries across the country are reporting countless incidents of receiving threats over the phone and online. While Queer folk have been sounding the alarm for over a year now that Transphobic rhetoric has been on the rise in their communities, our leaders have been notably silent save for some written statements like the one from the Federal government on International day against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. 

As such, we reached out to the Yukon Government and the parties for their comments on this growing issue. Yaroslav Baran, Senior Communications Counsel for the Conservative Party of Canada, forwarded this response regarding the issue:

“It is troubling, disturbing and disheartening to see threats of violence, threats, or hate of any kind targeting the Queer and Trans communities, or, frankly, any communities.  Conservatives stand for diversity, respect, and freedom from intimidation and harm of any kind.  These are fundamental Canadian values. The Conservative Party believes all Canadians have the fundamental right to dignity, respect, safety, inclusion, and safety from harm and intimidation. Should such expressions of intolerance spread to the Territory, we would support measures for greater awareness, to help change attitudes and perceptions about the Queer and Trans communities. When we need to rely on law enforcement, it means it is already after the fact. Intercepting the seeds of hate and intolerance is always more productive than needing law enforcement to address acts of hate after they have occurred.”

In a letter of solidarity, the Honorable Jeanie McLean, Minister of Education & responsible for the Women and Gender Equity Directorate said: 

“With respect to policing, the Minister of Justice identifies policing priorities for the Yukon RCMP on a yearly basis. These are based on recommendations provided by the Yukon Police Council and the Department of Justice. This year, one of the policing priorities set for the Yukon RCMP is to increase public trust. Key primary objectives associated with this priority include:  Adopting system-wide and measurable strategies to improve relations with youth; Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC); vulnerable populations; and LGBTQ2S+ demographics.  Building diversity within the RCMP to ensure that the territorial police service is more representative of the populations served. This includes sustaining a workplace that’s healthy and supportive to all members, as well as implementing processes to increase the recruitment of women; members of the LGBTQ2S+ community; and people who self-identify as BIPOC.”

While we are glad to receive the Conservative party’s support, and that of Minister McLean, we’d also like to draw attention to our stance regarding the police: “Police have a long history of violence against and murder of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) folk, in Canada and elsewhere. We also remember the violent and discriminatory history of police in dealing with queer and trans people. Too often, we have been disproportionately targeted for enforcement activities, and our experiences of homophobic and transphobic harassment and violence ignored or downplayed. Police continue to overpolice and under-protect many segments of Canadian society, including Indigenous and Black people, People of Colour, trans people, sex workers, people who use drugs, and others.” We do not support solutions involving the police.

The response from the Yukon Liberal Party’s President said: “The Yukon Liberal Party has long supported the LGBTQ2S+ community and worked to improve the rights and services of marginalized Yukoners throughout the territory.” While they did not provide us with a direct response to our questions on this particular issue, they did remind us of their many achievements “to create a more inclusive Yukon for LGBTQ2S+ citizens”. Additionally, you can find the LGBTQ2S+ Action Plan here.

In a conversation with Emily Tredger of the NDP, she had this to say:

“It’s a really hard and scary time and I think something that people within our community have known for a long time is that it feels like we’ve made all this progress but it’s precarious. People who are outside of the community tend to think ‘Okay great we did that. Done!’”...”I have heard when I met with people who are opposed to Bill 304 is that we are sexualizing kids too soon. The question is whether people are scared because they think being queer and trans is the same as being overtly sexual, or if the real issue is that they just don’t like queer and transness. I suspect it’s the latter.”

As Emily T. mentions above, one of the main talking points that is being used is this idea that Queer folk are inherently sexualized. That simply being in our presence is “grooming” children to grow up Queer & Trans.This narrative of “protecting the children'' has been a call to action for far right radicals for a very long time. This is notably one of QAnon’s central indoctrinating beliefs. By centering their conversation around children’s safety they have effectively created a moral imperative amongst themselves. However, decades of research has shown that kids are not made to be Trans, they simply are, and that providing them with access to resources and affirming care greatly increases their mental health and wellbeing. This article by the Scientific American not only illustrates that fact clearly but provides links to its sources.

Recently the Whitehorse Star published a letter to the editor from Jonas Smith. In his letter, Mr. Smith draws upon the very same talking points mentioned above. It’s a clear dog whistle to garner the support of a radicalized far right voting base that is moving on from protesting against mandates to a new social issue. When a platform is provided to hate and bigotry it helps normalize that discourse. This is part of the problem we are seeing with the rise in Far-Right radicalization. One of their goals is to raise the Overton window so as to allow for Anti Trans and Queer rhetoric to be publicly acceptable. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but they are not entitled to a platform. Even though they tend to exclaim that they are being censored or canceled, Transphobia continues to be given a lot of space by the media and politicians across the world, while our voices are the ones often being muted or going unheard. Regarding this letter in particular, Emily Tredger says: 

“I think that’s actually why it’s important in this question of ‘do we directly respond to things or not?’ and why I was really happy to see that letter, that the response was ‘people need to know this is happening’, this is real, this is not something we can just imagine is happening somewhere else.”

Countless studies on youth have shown that children as young as four years old have developed an understanding of socialized gender norms and identity. As for sexuality; heterosexuality is the social norm in our society and kids are surrounded by representations of this throughout childhood. From Disney movies showing romances between a Cis Male & Female, to more intimate depictions in other media. However we only see an outcry when romance and sexuality is depicted outside of cisheteronomativity. Being visibly Queer & Trans is not inherently sexual just as being visibly Cis & Straight. Presenting a child with representation allows them the possibility of understanding themselves better. Though for some, sex is inseparable from a Queer expression of Gender and Sexuality. When a youth or child expresses interest that falls outside of their cishetero understanding they believe it to be sexual in nature though they can recall their own innocent crushes fondly and free of sexual urgency from a similar age. Jules Gill-Peterson, Trans historian and author of “Histories of the Transgender Child”, put it so eloquently:

“When you weave a moral panic, you substitute for reality an invented fantasy. Often it is one that perverts reality to satisfy deeply rooted anxious and aggressive feelings about how the world really is. This is why so much transphobia is made up of hypothetical scenarios and easily falsifiable claims. Grandiose What Ifs and What Abouts replace what is actually happening and disavow who is actually in power and responsible for harm … Anti-trans political violence uses moral pretence because it is an ideological organ in the procedure of class warfare: shrinking the state’s investment in redistributing the resources of life while amplifying its role as the police. If you take away, say, access to health care and the legal concept of rights held in the body by claiming the harm is meant to protect us from a dangerous and immoral minority, the slide towards material misery is much easier to popularize.”

We urge you all to be an ally to the Queer & Trans community. Speak out, hold these people to account, and help protect our community from the rising tide of Anti Trans & Queer violence. As Minister McLean said in her letter:

“As allies, we have the responsibility to protect the LGBTQ2S+ community by standing up against all forms of violence and to anti-LGBTQ2S+ rhetoric. The Government of Yukon is committed to supporting everyone to live a healthy and safe life in whatever community they choose. We will continue to work with our community partners to be responsive to existing and emerging concerns.”

And to everyone within the 2SLGBTQIA+, QTBIPOC, and Queer community, take care and be safe. We will always advocate for health, safety, and dignity, but not just for us, for all people experiencing systemic injustice and marginalization.

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Below are some links to some sources and helpful learning:

• https://egale.ca/published-research/#category=research
• https://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-children-and-youth-understanding-the-basics
• https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Gender-Identity-and-Gender-Confusion-In-Children.aspx
• https://familyresourcesinc.org/2021/05/at-what-age-do-kids-identify-as-gay/
• https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/sexual-orientation

​For media inquiries, please contact:
Mira Sirois (they/them)
Communications Manager // Chef des Communications
Queer Yukon Society // Société Queer Yukon
(867) 393-1344 - mira@queeryukon.com