Dear Editor:
In places where gender would be used in U.S. federal policy, Trump has now replaced gender with sex. His definitions say that there are two sexes and are written so that individuals must identify as the sex they were assigned at birth.
Trump’s order effectively erases the existence of transgender and non-binary individuals. When asked about Trump’s order, Poilievre said that he was only aware of two genders. Poilievre then asked the CTV interviewer if he was aware of any others. When the interviewer mentioned that some people identify as gender neutral, Poilievre made a dismissive gesture and then shifted the conversation.
Part of Trump’s Restoring Sanity order, would force female transgender individuals to use male single-sex spaces and male transgender individuals to use female single-sex spaces. In Canada, 87% of the delegates at the Conservative Convention voted to support a plan to demand single-sex spaces that are only open to women, with a definition of women as a “female person.” When asked about the CPC’s policy, Poilievre said, “Female spaces should be exclusively for females, not for biological males.”
Trump’s order suggests the only reason why a male would identify as a female is to gain access to intimate female spaces and activities. Some of the delegates at the Canadian Conservative convention spoke about protecting girls and grandmas. This reasoning is insulting to anyone who identifies as female. And it leaves me wondering why they think that boys and grandpas can handle seeing a transgender female in their spaces, if we little women can’t handle it in our spaces.
The alignment between the policies of the Republican (aka Conservative) Party of the U.S. and of the Canadian Conservative Party are not surprising, as both are members of the International Democracy Union. This entity supports the election of Conservative parties around the world. It’s chair Stephen Harper was supportive of Trump’s election and now Elon Musk is supportive of Poilievre’s bid for PM.
In the CTV interview, Poilievre also said “we should have a government that just minds its own damn business and leaves people alone to make their own personal decisions.”
But we have seen Poilievre garner support too many times by playing to a right-wing base. We just can’t trust him to mind his own damn business if he thinks it will get him what he wants: Trump-like control of Canada.
Joanne Mitchell,
Fergus