Dear Editor:
This week the “illiberal” government of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán enshrined constitutional recognition of only two sexes, establishing a legal basis for denying 2SLGBTQIA+ rights.
Meanwhile, closer to home, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre avows that he “knows only two genders,” yet another example of his fondness for inflammatory sound bites that align with Orbán and U.S. President Donald Trump.
It is curious that a man who so staunchly defends freedom is so eager to promote his restrictive views on a core aspect of personal identity and liberty. However, the pertinent question is not whether gender is binary or exists on a spectrum, but rather what political advantage Poilievre seeks by rhetorically targeting vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities.
Conversations about gender—its number, nature, and whether it is fixed or fluid—are complicated and thorny because they encompass both biological and cultural dimensions. Too often, these debates are cynically self-serving and deliberately oversimplified for political gain.
However, regardless of one’s personal views on the variability of sexual identity and gender expression, they have no bearing on Canada’s most pressing challenges: trade, sovereignty, housing, climate change, inflation, health care, or the impact of artificial intelligence.
Indeed, to address these problems there is an urgent need to value and leverage diversity, not to demonize it. To prosper, Canada needs bold leadership that welcomes and affirms constructive contributions from everyone and fosters respect, inclusion and cooperation.
Why, Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong, was gender identity even raised as a topic by Poilievre and your party? Surely, we are agreed on the intrinsic worth and potential of all Canadians, regardless of our diverse identities? Or is Orbán’s Hungary to be our role model?
Provoking polarizing, uninformed and spiteful debates about gender is irrelevant misdirection and a dangerous diversion. I believe Poilievre knows this. It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that distraction and division have been and are precisely his goals.
Jonathan Schmidt,
Elora