[News] [Canada] Transgender rights case fights to axe gender from birth certificates
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Stephanie Stevens
Jul 25, 2016, 8:07:32 AM7/25/16
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Metro News, Canada
Transgender rights case fights to axe gender from birth certificates
As B.C. adds gender identity and expression to its Human Rights Code ahead of Pride, an LGBTQ rights case fights forcing ‘male’ or ‘female’ on newborns.
By: David P. Ball, Metro
Published on Mon Jul 25, 2016
Pierre Trudeau quipped in 1967 that “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation” when he decriminalized homosexuality as Canada’s justice minister, within a year of become Prime Minister.
Now, a lawsuit filed by a Vancouver LGBTQ rights lawyer is arguing that there’s also no place for the state in the pants of the nation, either.
“This is a classic example of an apparently neutral rule which has a disproportionate and negative impact on a small group of people,” barbara findlay (whose legal name is uncapitalized) told Metro in a phone interview. “That’s practically the definition of discrimination.
“Having a birth certificate with gender on it creates life-long discrimination, in fact not only for trans or intersex people, but for anyone who doesn’t quite ‘look’ like what others think you should look like.”
She said that the government has no place certifying British Columbians gender or sex at birth — because gender identity isn’t developed until, at earliest, 3 years old, she argued, and because not every baby’s genitals match their assigned sex.
The case, which findlay is arguing at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, was launched by eight complainants against the province’s Vital Statistics Agency and seeks to remove the M/F field on birth certificates.
The lawyer said the case is particularly relevant after the BC Liberal government agreed to add gender identity and expression to its Human Rights Code on Thursday, advancing a longstanding New Democrat campaign. The change is expected to come before the Legislature when it sits Monday.
The new bipartisan-backed reform comes in advance of this Sunday’s Vancouver Pride Parade, which culminates a week of LGBTQ events. The federal government has promised to end discrimination against trans people.
“The government is just mouthing words,” Felix Gilliland, one of the case’s complainants said, in a press release. “It is a cynical attempt to get empty points before Pride.”
Now that B.C. has endorsed the human rights of trans people, “if they think that what they’re doing is just adding a couple words to the Human Rights Code that don’t affect the law very much — come on guys,” findlay said. “They’re going to have to review every single one of their gendered policies and practices.”
© Copyright Free Daily News Group Inc. 2001-2016
http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2016/07/25/trans-rights-case-fights-to-end-gender-birth-certificates.html
Transgender rights case fights to axe gender from birth certificates
As B.C. adds gender identity and expression to its Human Rights Code ahead of Pride, an LGBTQ rights case fights forcing ‘male’ or ‘female’ on newborns.
By: David P. Ball, Metro
Published on Mon Jul 25, 2016
Pierre Trudeau quipped in 1967 that “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation” when he decriminalized homosexuality as Canada’s justice minister, within a year of become Prime Minister.
Now, a lawsuit filed by a Vancouver LGBTQ rights lawyer is arguing that there’s also no place for the state in the pants of the nation, either.
“This is a classic example of an apparently neutral rule which has a disproportionate and negative impact on a small group of people,” barbara findlay (whose legal name is uncapitalized) told Metro in a phone interview. “That’s practically the definition of discrimination.
“Having a birth certificate with gender on it creates life-long discrimination, in fact not only for trans or intersex people, but for anyone who doesn’t quite ‘look’ like what others think you should look like.”
She said that the government has no place certifying British Columbians gender or sex at birth — because gender identity isn’t developed until, at earliest, 3 years old, she argued, and because not every baby’s genitals match their assigned sex.
The case, which findlay is arguing at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, was launched by eight complainants against the province’s Vital Statistics Agency and seeks to remove the M/F field on birth certificates.
The lawyer said the case is particularly relevant after the BC Liberal government agreed to add gender identity and expression to its Human Rights Code on Thursday, advancing a longstanding New Democrat campaign. The change is expected to come before the Legislature when it sits Monday.
The new bipartisan-backed reform comes in advance of this Sunday’s Vancouver Pride Parade, which culminates a week of LGBTQ events. The federal government has promised to end discrimination against trans people.
“The government is just mouthing words,” Felix Gilliland, one of the case’s complainants said, in a press release. “It is a cynical attempt to get empty points before Pride.”
Now that B.C. has endorsed the human rights of trans people, “if they think that what they’re doing is just adding a couple words to the Human Rights Code that don’t affect the law very much — come on guys,” findlay said. “They’re going to have to review every single one of their gendered policies and practices.”
© Copyright Free Daily News Group Inc. 2001-2016
http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2016/07/25/trans-rights-case-fights-to-end-gender-birth-certificates.html
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