A significant disavowal from one of the people responsible for changing the law to include Gender Identity. Suzanne Anton QC was the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of BC.
The Right to Say No
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She says this about changing the law:
"Adding gender identity and expression was not technically necessary, as those protections were already taken to be present under the more general language then in the Code. The Canadian Charter of Rights, for example, does not list sexual or gender identity; it simply says a person is protected against discrimination on the basis of sex. It’s a short description, applied broadly.
"However, some advocates – trans advocates in particular – believed that adding the explicit language of “gender identity or expression” to the Human Rights Code would be helpful to ensuring broad understanding of those rights. I agreed, and was happy to
present the amendments to the Legislature, where they were unanimously supported."
BUT NOW
"To me, the three cases are as clear a demonstration of the Code’s limits as you can get. No woman should have to touch male genitals when she doesn’t want to. No woman should have to go into a home, or allow someone into theirs, if she does not feel comfortable. "
AND ALSO
"The HRT is sincere in its wish to get rights right. But as noted above, they can refuse cases. These are cases where they might have chosen not to put the women service-providers into such a stressful and difficult position.
They could have just said No."
YOU COULDA SAID NO TOO SUZANNE. Sheesh.
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