Canadian breaking news and politics and hats and general sexiness

[betenoire]

Transgender protection bill approved by Commons

An NDP private member's bill to protect transgender people from discrimination was passed by the House of Commons, but could face a roadblock in the Conservative dominated Senate.

[Soon]

Originally Posted by betenoire

Transgender protection bill approved by Commons

Reading the comments under the article has made for an interesting morning.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Reading the comments under the article has made for an interesting morning.

I was so happy yesterday when I heard the news and still am, but some of those comments can make you go from ecstatic to seeing red. I know it does little to get pissed about some of the crap that was written in there, but seriously, when exactly are trans people going to start being considered human beings by the general population? If someone equated the rights of ethnic minorities to the rights of geese, it would be an entirely different story in the eyes of the majority of the Canadian population. But it's ok to spew this kind of garbage because hey it's just about "those freaks over there." The fact that you can dehumanise someone to that degree and nobody bats an eyelash is proof enough that current laws supposedly protecting trans people leave much to be desired. It's very easy for someone whose rights are protected by law to shrug off the struggle of someone whose rights are not protected by law. "Life is easy for me, therefore anyone who tries to struggle for their own rights is just a whiney, lazy bastard."

[MsTinkerbelly]

Canada's Parliament Approves Transgender And Gender Identity Protections

By a vote of 143-135, the Canadian Parliament has narrowly approved a bill granting transgender and gender identity anti-discrimination protections nationwide. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces a tough battle.

Bill C-389 now goes to the Senate, where it must go through three readings. Readings in the Senate don’t take months-to-years as they do for Private Members Bills in Parliament. However, as far as I know, a Senator still needs to be found who is willing to bring the bill to the floor. There could be some perils in the Senate. In the past, the Senate has mostly just ratified and tweaked legislation passed by Parliament, but as Harper has packed more conservatives into the Senate (rather than reforming it to create an elected Senate, which he once campaigned on), it has been sometimes used more undemocratically. In one recent such move, he used a lack of attendance of Liberal senators to kill a climate change bill. It is also still entirely possible that an election call could kill the bill before it is enacted into law. What would happen then is that as a community, we would need to press candidates and parties to pledge to finish what was started, and also to address other glaring omissions such as the absence of sex / gender from the hate crimes provisions from the Criminal Code of Canada.

***I know you posted the story, but some of us are link challanged!***

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by betenoire

Transgender protection bill approved by Commons

Once again, kudos to the s

[betenoire]

NFB Interactive - Pine Point

This isn't news or anything.

A friend of mine forwarded this to me last night. It's an interactive project about a town in the NYT called "Pine Point" that no longer exists. It's super interesting and it made me really sad.

Because there isn't anybody who can't relate to loss.

[Soon]

A Montreal Band (The Arcade Fire) Won Album of the Year at the Grammy`s!

[EnderD_503]

Since it may get more views over here, thought I'd put this over here instead of the trans zone:

Tell the Senate to pass Bill C-389 as soon as possible

We are so close to seeing trans human rights inscribed in law – but we need your help for Bill C-389 to pass one more hurdle.

On February 10, a majority of MPs voted to add gender identity and gender expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act and federal hate crimes laws.

Now it’s up to the Senate to pass the bill, so it can be given Royal Assent. With the threat of a spring election looming, we need to act now.

Send a letter to the Senators in your province now (Link: http://petition.web.net/psac/node/48...m_medium=email). Tell them to obey the decision of Parliament and act for trans human rights today.

[betenoire]

hey Ender, do you know where I can find a list of which MPs voted which way on the bill?

I want to see if that douchebaggleturdwad MP of mine (sorry, I really don't like her) did the right thing - which she probably didn't because she's a douchebaggleturdwad.

ETA - Found it

And no, she did not do the right thing. GOD she is so annoying!

[EnderD_503]

Is she Conservative?

Ugh, honestly I don't get those who vote against this (well, actually I do "get" them, but it just pisses me off and wish they'd leave others alone to live their lives).

Fortunately my MP is decent, very gay and voted for the bill.