Everyone supports gender-affirming care
Any time someone is dumb enough to get into an argument with me about gender-affirming care it ends in stunned silence when I point out that if we are to ban it we’ll have to start with boob jobs, penile implants and Viagra.
Oh yes, it totally is the same. If the creator had wanted us to have gravity-defying boobs into our retirement years, she would have given them to us. Same with reliable and lasting erections. So you see, there is nothing wrong with using medicine to help align your outside with who you are inside.
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I discuss a fantastic new campaign, We Are Allies, that uses the power of personal stories to offer adults the information and resources they need to support trans, gender-diverse and two-spirit youth in their lives.
What I love about it – well, actually, there’s a lot I love about this website and the campaign behind it. But one of my favourite aspects of it is the tone. It is warm and welcoming, not preachy, and above all non-judgey. It is perfectly OK not to know how to deal with issues of gender; there is no shame in not knowing. For one thing, most of us were never taught anything about it. Those of us who do know had to learn on the fly.
The only thing that’s wrong is to dehumanize and invalidate trans, gender-diverse and two-spirit folks.
I interviewed Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah and Lorraine Grieves about the new campaign. The videos below give you the larger context of We Are Allies and more information than I could fit into the column. I invite you to take a listen and to spend a little time exploring We Are Allies. Perhaps you don’t need it this campaign. But someone you know might benefit from it.
Et parce qu’il faut bien dire quelque chose
It is supremely disappointing that this year’s Pride season in Ottawa is marred by Capital Pride’s inability to issue a statement that doesn’t make people feel unsafe and unwelcome. To the point where organizations – and the mayor – are pulling out of the festivities. There’s still time to make it right.
