Transgender community protests Anders’ latest petition

via: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/

Members of Calgary's trans community held a protest outside MP Rob Anders constituency office in response to his comments that the goal of Bill C-279 is to "give transgendered men access to women's public washroom facilities" and will expose children to harm.
Photograph by: Lorraine Hjalte , Calgary Herald

More than a dozen members of Calgary’s transgendered community protested Saturday outside the constituency office of Calgary West MP Rob Anders.

The Conservative politician is drawing fire for circulating a petition opposing a bill that would extend legal protections to transgender people.

Anders’ petition calls Bill C-279 the “bathroom bill” and says it endangers children and aims “to give transgendered men access to women’s public washroom facilities.”

Protester Mercedes Allen said the event was organized to clarify the “fear mongering” petition.

“The bill he’s protesting is a human rights bill which is not about washrooms at all but refers to employment, housing, access to services and things like that,” Allen said.

Allen said many Canadians don’t know people who are transgendered and the event served to help people learn about the issues facing a vulnerable population and why human rights protections are needed.

“We just want people to realize that we’re real people. They encounter us everyday, probably don’t even realize it. (We’re) not any kind of scary menace at all,” Allen said.

Anders defended the petition in an e-mail to the Herald Saturday.

“If someone has male plumbing they should use a men’s public washroom,” he wrote.

Females deserve to be protected in public washrooms and change rooms, the email said.

“Women and girls make up over 50 per cent of the population and should not be put at risk for the sake of less than one per cent of the population. What about the rights of the majority of women and girls?”

But Premier Alison Redford characterized Anders’ petition as “ill-informed” and inappropriate.“One of the things that always disappoints me in a dialogue about human rights is when you see people introduce information into the discussion that is incorrect and only designed to get people scared, frightened or to incite emotion,” she said, speaking to reporters after a luncheon Saturday. “It’s unfortunate. It’s a very ill-informed petition.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/