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New Trans Resources

4/28/2014

There are some excellent new resources in the trans section of the website.
Check out "Why Support for Trans* Youth Matters" from Trans Student Equality Resources
Trans Youth at School from Y-Gap (Youth Gender Action Project)
Impacts of Strong Parental Support for Trans Youth from the Trans-Pulse Project of Ontario
...and thanks to Gwen Haworth for these resources!

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Nova Scotia Law Society: Thumbs Down on TWU!

4/26/2014

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The day after Ontario's law society refused accreditation to Trinity Western University, Nova Scotia's law society followed suit.
In British Columbia, the decision by the Benchers (governing body) to accredit TWU is being challenged. A special general meeting has been requisitioned by a petition which gathered about double the necessary number of signatures. The meeting must be held within 60 days of the petition. The Benchers' decision could be overturned at that meeting. Talk to every lawyer you know!

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If you can't go to Parks/School Board meetings sign this Petition

4/26/2014

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Join me in signing the Trans Alliance Society's Petition for trans inclusivity.
The Parks Board and School Board are considering trans-inclusive policies within a week of each other: Parks Board on Monday and Board of Education on Monday May 5. If you can go to either meeting, dial 311 and ask for the registration number for each meeting.
But if you can't go to the meetings, sign the Trans Alliance Society petition here.

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Ontario Law Society won't accredit TWU; BC Law Society Has to Reconsider

4/25/2014

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The Ontario Law Society has decided it will NOT accredit graduates from TWU, the law school in BC which requires students and staff to sign a covenant that includes requiring them to abstain from gossip, obscene language, prejudice, harassment, lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, drunkenness and sexual intimacy “that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman". (That is: no gay sex,married or not).
Nova Scotia's law society considers the issue today.
B.C.'s law society voted in favour of accrediting TWU graduates this month, but that fight is not over. Lawyers have petitioned to have the matter reconsidered at a special meeting of the entire profession. The petition required 600 signatures; Michael Mulligan, the lawyer organizing the petition, says there are over 1300 signatures so far.
TWU was granted accreditation by the Federation of Law Societies but still requires the individual approval of each provincial law society. TWU expects to open in 2016.

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Write to your MLA about birth certificates!

4/24/2014

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Seven countries have begun to make changes on their identity documents with respect to gender, with India being the latest when its courts ruled in favour of trans rights.
With luck British Columbia will soon be far behind and will see NO genders on birth certificates.
There are three problems with gendered birth certificates. The first is that the genitalia of intersex children are ambiguous at birth - so doctors 'assign' a gender, and historically have even guessed at the gender of an intersex child and done surgery on infants to 'repair' their genitalia. Intersex people regard this as being as cruel as female genital mutilation.
The second problem is that we do not develop our gender identity- our internal sense of gender - till we are 3 or 4. Sometimes, our gender identity does not 'match' the gender we were assigned at birth, and we are saddled with a life of trying to get out from under that gender marker.
Finally, some people have gender identities which are neither male nor female, or both male and female. the m/f choice will never work for them.
In Australia, you can get a passport showing 'sex not specified' if you have had sex reassignment surgery. Germany permits the parents of intersex people to put an 'x' on their birth certificates - not a third gender, but a deferral of the gender election. Nepal has added a third gender to all citizenship and identity documents. New Zealand now allows people to state their gender as male, female or “X” (indeterminate/unspecified), without the need to change their birth certificates or citizenship records. Pakistan recognize a separate gender for Pakistan’s hijra community, which includes transgendered people, transvestites, and eunuchs. Bangladesh has extended official government recognition to people who identify as hijra, giving them the option of reflecting their gender identity in passports and other identity cards.
BC has a bill in the works which will affect birth certificates, by eliminating the requirement that trans* people have sex reassignment surgery before they can get a new birth certificate; and by making it possible for children to change the gender on their birth certificates. But disappointingly, the old M/F remains.
Harriette Cunningham is challenging the government to remove all gender markers from the birth certificate. In these days of advanced identification technologies, whether one has an M or an F on an identity document is no longer useful. I.D. now has photos, and sometimes facial recognition or fingerprint recognition technology.
Since having a gender marker predictably causes untold grief for anyone whose gender is other than M/F, there is no justification for continuing to use gender markers on birth certificates. Doctors can continue to collect their "guess" at birth about what gender a child will turn out to be, and record that on the registration of birth for anyone with a statistical interest ; but the document provided to people as proof they were born in BC does not need to show gender for any purpose.

Now is the time to write to your MLA and demand that BC fix its birth certificates properly by removing all gender markers. Go here to find your MLA's email and address. And if you are someone born in BC whose birth certificate has given you grief, contact barbara findlay at [email protected] about how you can help with the court challenge.

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To Register to Speak at Parks Board...update

4/23/2014

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To register to speak at next Monday's Parks Board meeting about trans inclusion (see yesterday's post), I called 311. In turn they gave me a number to call, which I no longer have. Sorry the # got cut off in yesterday's post. Just call 311 and follow the breadcrumbs...See everybody there I hope!

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Vancouver Parks Board to consider Trans* Inclusion Report: go to the meeting April 28

4/22/2014

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Vancouver Parks Board is to consider the 80 recommendations made by its Trans and Gender Variant Working Group about how to make Parks Board facilities inclusive for trans* and gender variant people.
The meeting will be held on Monday, April 28, at 7 pm at the Parks Board office at 2099 Beach Avenue.
Register to speak by leaving a voice mail at 04 257-158. Or just come to the meeting.
The report focuses on public facilities such as toilets and change rooms; program accessibility; forms and literature; human resources and training; and procedural and accountability issues.
Among other recommendations are suggestions for how to gather information about gender on forms; signage for washrooms; and the creation of gender neutral washrooms and change rooms at Parks Board facilities.

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New Trans Resources

Nova Scotia Law Society: Thumbs Down on TWU!

If you can't go to Parks/School Board meetings sign this Petition

Ontario Law Society won't accredit TWU; BC Law Society Has to Reconsider

Write to your MLA about birth certificates!

To Register to Speak at Parks Board...update

Vancouver Parks Board to consider Trans* Inclusion Report: go to the meeting April 28

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