This article was first published on Raven Maverick’s Substack on May 4, 2026
On Thursday April 30, 2026, Okotoks Pride in partnership with Trans Action Alberta held a free event in the lounge at the Okotoks Elks Hall where attendees were invited to “Ask a Trans Person Anything.” The event seems to be connected to a cross-country tour called the Trans Canada Tour that has a number of “Ask a Trans Person Anything” events in major cities and small towns of other provinces (Alberta is notably absent, but I would imagine Trans Action Alberta would be organizing any future events in this province.) These events are advertised as being hosted by “Canada’s Two Leading Trans Activists Fae Johnstone and Victoria Bucholtz.”
What "no-holds-barred", "no-questions-off-limits", "controversial questions" will be posed at the next "Ask a Trans Person Anything" event, @KarlaMarx1917 and @FaeJohnstone? Asking for a friend… pic.twitter.com/bHO4ZPopjU
— Frances Widdowson (@FrancesWiddows1) May 3, 2026
The event was advertised on the Okotoks Pride Facebook page as being “truly for everyone. If you’ve heard conflicting or negative things about trans people… if you’re unsure what to think… if you’ve held questions or even skepticism – you are welcome here.”
I attended with Frances Widdowson mostly to just observe the proceedings. I know that I was not planning to ask any questions, I was mostly there to listen to what people had to say and observe who was attending. I was not attending to be disruptive.
Frances was unsure if she would be even able to get in the door (Bucholtz managed to prevent her from taking part in the Calgary Pride parade last year). We were hoping that the space would have been bigger and that we would have been able to sit down in the back and not be noticed. Frances wanted to livestream if she was able to. I planned to just audio record.
Frances and I did manage to enter and found seats at a table in the area of the lounge where the event was taking place. I bought beer for us from the bar. Delicious beer from Big Beaver Brewing in Okotoks.
Unfortunately, we were unable to finish our beers.
Bucholtz soon noticed that Frances was in attendance and came over to ask her to leave, and said that she was not welcome there. At that point Frances was quietly livestreaming on X and I was maintaining my streak on Duolingo (chess!), enjoying my beer, and generally minding my own business. I found the space uncomfortable and weird, and I realized now that I had disassociated somewhat due to the toxic narcissistic male energy that Bucholtz projects. (A more fitting title for the event would have been “Ask a Narcissist Anything” in my opinion.)
Suddenly if felt like we were surrounded by Bucholtz’s minions and a short conversation ensued mostly with Bucholtz demanding that Frances and I (when he realized that we were together) leave as our views, and presumably our questions, were not welcome there. I guess we are on the wrong end of the skeptical spectrum! Frances asked him that he pay for the beer which he said he would. I note that it was his handmaidens who pulled out the cash to pay for our drinks (I wonder if he paid them back…). Silver lining: we made a small profit.
We did leave but were kicking ourselves soon after for not holding our ground for just a little while longer. Though I think Frances made her point clear that we were there for open discussion, we could have pointed out that the event invited skeptics. I also think we should have just refused to leave with a simple “no.” However, Bucholtz implied that the event was private with his statement that they had “control of the room” — suggesting that the Elks Lounge was not open to the public, though the Okotoks Elks website states otherwise. There was no “closed for private event” sign on the door.
At "Ask a Trans Person Anything", trans activist Victoria Bucholtz (@KarlaMarx1917) makes it clear that "this event is truly [NOT] for everyone". pic.twitter.com/71Rkhybb78
— Frances Widdowson (@FrancesWiddows1) May 1, 2026
Frances’ livestream unfortunately cut out midway through the conversation, however I managed to capture it in an audio recording.
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Speaking for myself, I felt that I conceded automatically to Bucholtz’s demands that we leave. An automatic response almost from my upbringing, as like many women, I have been conditioned to be a people pleasing “good girl” and to do what I am told by men. Patriarchy has had control over women for thousands of years. This is why the patriarchal transgender movement has managed to make women concede womanhood and their spaces so easily to trans-identified men and why we are in this mess in the first place. As for Bucholtz, he may think he is a woman, but he certainly knows how to wield this toxic masculine power over women, even women who see through his bullshit! I also felt that he relished ejecting Frances and me from the event.
Oppressed female: “So you’ve opened this to the public… but you’ve decided —“
— Bryony Dixon (@BryonyClareD) May 1, 2026
Male oppressor: “It’s an open discussion, you’re not interested in open discussion.”
Oppressed female: “I am interested in open discussion — you’re the one who’s not open[…]
Male oppressor: “I’m… https://t.co/1koxBLFekg
Bryony Dixon said it best!
Frances’ and my attendance at “Ask a Trans Person Anything” in Okotoks was not completely futile. Frances’ livestream went viral, mostly on X, and Rebel News picked up the story. In her report, Sheila Gunn Reid points out that because these events are being sponsored by government funded organizations such as EGALE, taxpayers actually pay for them.
In my opinion, that means anyone has a right to attend and I am hoping that we have given momentum for other TERFs (and anyone with a good grasp on reality) to attend these events and ask questions and record if able. Ask the questions that trans activists don’t want us to ask. We all know why they don’t want to hear them. Because they cannot answer them without their house of cards falling down.
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