It was the first time in Canada that a panel of concerned female citizens had been invited to speak at an established conference for critical intellectuals about the harms of gender ideology for women and girls.
It was also the first time in Canada that such an event was not mobbed by a furious cohort of transgender rights activists intent on silencing the speakers and preventing these truths from being exposed.
Reportedly, many eyes were opened, jaws dropped and questions asked following this panel discussion at the 2022 Civitas Canada conference held in Calgary in April-May.
Below is an uncut version of one of the panelists’ remarks at this annual event which operates according to Chatham House Rules: “…participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
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Ladies and gentlemen (and everyone who identifies otherwise):
When it was understood in our society (and not so long ago) that “biology is not destiny” it was a turning point – a seminal moment for women and humanity. Without that turning point, Civitas would not have [name withheld] as its president, nor would there be three women on a panel in a conference where we may attend any discussion of interest we please.
There is an enormous gap between “biology is not destiny” and “biology is not real” and a few years ago I would’ve scoffed at such an idea. Yet here we are.
The institutions we once trusted to uphold our rights have been corrupted. We are told to deny the evidence of our own eyes and brains. We are told that Lia Thomas and Rachel Levine are women. We are told that we are bigots for objecting to males in our sports. Little girls in changing rooms at spas are scolded for “staring at genitals” because, after all, “some women have penises.”
Men are allowed to self-identify their way into women’s prisons, thanks to a nifty bit of policy change by stealth in 2017.
I refer to Correctional Service Canada’s Bulletin 584, which related to Bill C-16 and “gender identity.” The prime minister decided that it was just fine to allow a number of individuals admittance to women’s prisons who simply self-identified as women. No hormone treatment. No sex reassignment surgery.
An astonishing number of these individuals only discovered that they were really women after being charged – and there were more than a few violent sex offenders amongst them.
In women’s prisons, a disproportionate share of the inmates are Indigenous women who have arrived already traumatised. And the Elizabeth Fry Society? The body that is supposed to advocate for incarcerated women? Nope. It’s all about transgender rights. This includes the crimes of men who claim to be women having the option to be charged with their alleged crimes under their preferred pronouns, no matter the nature of the crime. The crime statistics in Canada will be hopelessly skewed in short order.
The words “woman” and “mother” are being removed as quickly as possible from life and language both here and in the US.
The Lancet, a distinguished medical journal, referred to women as “bodies with vaginas,” while “chest feeding” has replaced “breast feeding.”
Women are now called “cervix-havers” and “bleeders.”
The word “mother”? Trans activists are not-so-slowly getting it replaced with “gestational parent,” or worse, “birthing body.”
In British Columbia, the government has just undertaken a second round of “language remediation” involving what it has decided is outdated gendered language. “Wife” was one of those many outdated words last year. This year they include “sister” and “niece.” This, of course, is all in the name of inclusivity.
I think it’s fair to point out here that almost none of the trans-activists’ attempts to erase the word “woman” from law and language is directed at men. You’d be amazed to see two different posters, one advising “people with cervixes” to make sure to have a pap smear, the other advising “men” to have regular prostrate exams. But they exist.
No group of women has suffered more under the lash of trans activism than lesbians. Their dating apps and clubs have been overrun with men insisting that they are lesbians. Younger women in particular are subjected to immense pressure to have sex with men – there’s an entire methodology on how to overcome what is referred to as the cotton ceiling.
Of all the countries in the Anglosphere, the women of England are the only ones who have avoided the obliteration of their rights which come as a result of men who say they’re women being allowed to self-identify into all women’s spaces: sports, shelters, changing rooms, washrooms, etc. And that is because at the last minute, Boris Johnson’s Conservatives decided to remove the self-ID clause from their legislation. Even so, the National Health Service strenuously resisted, continuing to allow men who claimed to be women onto women’s hospital wards until forced to comply with the law, when at least one female patient was sexually assaulted. Merseyside Police is legendary for its biased attitude in favour of transgender rights.
Scotland, on the other hand, is entirely captured by gender ideology – despite polls indicating that most Scottish voters do not approve of self-ID, the first minister is completely determined to push it through. The director of Edinburgh Rape Crisis is a male who claims to be a woman and refuses to allow women to choose the sex of their therapist, insisting that traumatised women must be re-educated and learn to “reframe” their trauma, rather than “weaponize” that trauma. In other words, trans issues are centred, while the woman who was assaulted is silenced.
Meanwhile in Canada – unlike the women of England, we do not have a single politician from any party who is willing to answer the question, “What is a woman?” much less defend our rights. This includes, so far, all the individuals in the race for the Conservative leadership.
One of the bravest women I know, who tirelessly campaigns for the rights of incarcerated women (more at risk than ever thanks to the presence of males claiming to be women with whom they are housed), struggles to get any media coverage of the country-wide protests she faithfully organizes.
This is censorship.
A former Leader of the Conservative party refused to meet with her. She was told by a staffer that he did not wish to discuss the issue – an issue that affects incarcerated women, a disproportionate number of whom are Indigenous (nearly 50 percent, in fact).
In Vancouver, Canada’s oldest women’s shelter, Vancouver Rape Relief, was defunded by the city after complaints by trans activists that the centre, while offering assistance to men who claim to be women, insisted on separate accommodation, and would not employ males who wished to counsel women post-assault.
A dead rat was nailed to its storefront and obscene graffiti scrawled everywhere.
No one is more dedicated to the destruction of Vancouver Rape Relief than a particular Vancouver trans activist, who made sure that it lost city funding and continues to stalk them, trying to get their status as a registered charity pulled on grounds of “discrimination.”
Also in Vancouver, we have Amy Hamm, a mother of two, heavily targeted by trans activists for offering to contribute to putting up a billboard which said “I love JK Rowling.” No effort has been spared in trying to force her from the nursing profession she loves, along with the usual array of threats of death and sexual violence. For two miserable years this has dragged on – and for what? She is being punished for stating that biology and sex are real.
During the pandemic, parents across the country were alarmed to discover the extent to which their children were being indoctrinated with gender ideology, and that it was impossible to opt out of it.
There is nothing more heinous than teaching children that they are born in the wrong body, and that puberty blockers (not reversible, and also known as chemical castrators) and cross-sex hormones, to be followed by surgery is the only way. Schools deliberately hide a child’s “choice” of “gender” and their “new name” from parents, actively alienating some children from those parents. Schools have become places where social justice has superseded education, and as parents have realized what’s happening, many who are able are looking for alternatives. There have been reports of significant numbers of parents pulling their children from public schools over the last few months.
This all brings us to the silencing of women.
We have a government which is content to allow the wishes of 100,000 or so people to take precedence over the rights of more than half the population of Canada.
It is the role of a democracy to protect the rights of minorities while making certain that the will of the majority is respected.
That is not happening here.
Instead, women who object to sharing locker rooms or washrooms with males who claim to be women are called bigots and transphobes.
Women who object to being referred to as ciswomen – many of us refuse to be considered a subset of our own sex class – are sneered at while being expected to respect the preferred pronouns of others.
Our legacy media, concerned about an end of government largesse, will not cover anything related to these issues. It’s left to True North, Quillette, and several of their brethren to report honestly on what’s going on.
Our political representatives are afraid. I can see it. Many of us pleaded with our MPs not to vote for Bill C-4 (banning conversion therapy), without an amendment that would protect children from being encouraged to take puberty blockers and cross sex hormones, and allow parents to adopt a wait-and-see-approach. There were, I know, those who dissented, yet it was passed unanimously and Liberals and Conservatives hugged in the centre aisle after the vote.
Women (and some male allies) have been deplatformed from Twitter for stating that sex matters and biology is real. For stating that only females can become pregnant and give birth. For speaking the truth.
“Lia Thomas is a man” – those words would have gotten any of us permanently banned from Twitter. Now, please consider this: Until the sale of Twitter to Elon Musk, it was considered to be an oppressive, illiberal platform. Yet even Twitter considers the Liberal so-called online harms bill to be on a par with what one might expect to see in China, North Korea or Iran.
As far as this government is concerned, women who stand up for the rights that those who came before them fought so hard for, are hateful, transphobic bigots whose views are not “worthy of respect in a democratic society” (WORIADS).
Most of the women with whom we work are on the left, and they have done a lot of heavy lifting on this.
Since I am not on the left of the political spectrum, but rather a centrist small “c” conservative, I have often wondered why there are so few of my fellow conservatives on this road with us.
It cannot be because of indifference to a generation that is already damaged by the effects of the pandemic, the members of which are being used as water carriers for various types of activism.
It cannot be because of indifference to the profound effects parent/child alienation is having on families.
It cannot be because of indifference to much-loved girls and women losing their safe spaces, their chances to compete in sport knowing that if they are competing against a Lia Thomas they cannot win, and being deprived of scholarships, awards and resources earmarked for them.
I have come to believe that it’s because most of you didn’t know.
How would you?
The mainstream media for the most part is silent. There are courageous exceptions but they are exceptions.
Social media muzzles anyone who protests. Our political representatives will not speak up. So I understand that many of you didn’t know.
But… now you do.
And that excuse will no longer wash.
Thank you very much.
