This year for the first time, the annual Legacy Awards will include the Kimberly Nixon Legacy Award. The award pays tribute to trans pioneer Kimberly Nixon.
For those of you too young to remember, Kimberly applied to volunteer with Rape Relief, a Vancouver rape crisis centre. She was accepted as a trainee, but when she went to the training, was told she could not stay because she was trans.
The human rights case and appeals that followed took years. During the decade of that fight, Kimberly worked tirelessly to ensure that all of the other other women's centres in BC did not follow Rape Relief's transphobic and misogynist exclusionary policy.
Thanks to Kimberly, the law in BC is that the ground of 'sex' in human rights law protects trans people.
Though Rape Relief won in the Court of Appeal, based on an argument that, like the Catholic Church, they should be exempt from anti-discrimination laws because they were a charity, all of the other women's centres had trans-inclusive policies by the time the case was done.
So - lose the battle, but win the war.
Kimberly Nixon is a hero whose legacy must never be forgotten.
Nominate a trans* activist who has made a difference in the lives of trans people! The nomination form is here.
For those of you too young to remember, Kimberly applied to volunteer with Rape Relief, a Vancouver rape crisis centre. She was accepted as a trainee, but when she went to the training, was told she could not stay because she was trans.
The human rights case and appeals that followed took years. During the decade of that fight, Kimberly worked tirelessly to ensure that all of the other other women's centres in BC did not follow Rape Relief's transphobic and misogynist exclusionary policy.
Thanks to Kimberly, the law in BC is that the ground of 'sex' in human rights law protects trans people.
Though Rape Relief won in the Court of Appeal, based on an argument that, like the Catholic Church, they should be exempt from anti-discrimination laws because they were a charity, all of the other women's centres had trans-inclusive policies by the time the case was done.
So - lose the battle, but win the war.
Kimberly Nixon is a hero whose legacy must never be forgotten.
Nominate a trans* activist who has made a difference in the lives of trans people! The nomination form is here.
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