Canada PoliticsSocial conservative group targets 15 Tory MPs who voted in favour of the ‘Bathroom Bill’
A religious social conservative group is targeting 15 Conservative MPs who — at second reading — voted in favour of a controversial transgender rights Bill.
Canada Family Action (CFA), which claims to represent tens of thousands of Canadians, wants to stop Bill C-279, a private members bill introduced by NDP MP Randall Garrison, which would essentially protect gender rights via the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code.
On its website, CFA enlists the public's help to phone the dissenting Tory MPs to convince them to vote against the Bill. They also include phone numbers.
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The sometimes controversial organization lists six reasons they're against what they call the 'Bathroom Bill.' One of their concerns is that it could allow male sexual predators to dress up as women to enter lady's washrooms and change rooms.
"Bill C279 could allow men to use women’s bathrooms, change rooms, showers, and other gender-specific facilities if they claim that they are “expressing” their gender.
Violent and sexual attacks on women in bathrooms and change rooms are not uncommon. Bill C279 could give legal defense to predators like this.
Furthermore, if men who identify as women start using women’s facilities, it is easier for sexual predators to go unnoticed, as if they themselves are simply “expressing” their gender. This is extremely dangerous for women who won’t know who is, and who is not, a sexual predator."
It's an argument that, in the past, has annoyed Garrison. Last October, he told Yahoo! Canada News that such arguments are based on ignorance, misinformation and fear.
"[The Bill is] about guaranteeing equal rights for transgendered people," he said.
[ Related: Tory MP angers transgender community with petition against gender rights ]
It's also an argument that many in the transgender community take umbrage to.
"The suggestion that this is somehow some … conspiracy of trans people to sneak into bathrooms deliberately to harm people — it’s ludicrous," transgender advocate Jan Buterman recently told CBC News.
"Trans people have been using bathrooms all over Canada for decades with, as far as I know, zero evidence of any incidents whatsoever."
According to a recent report by iPolitics, the 15 Tory MPs that did vote for the Bill on second reading did so on a promise of amendments that Garrison has submitted to the Speaker.
"The amendments target some of the more contentious elements of the bill by removing the term "gender expression" and giving a definition of "gender identity"
There could be a vote on the Bill within the next two weeks.
(Photo courtesy of The Canadian Press)
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