For decades, groups have campaigned for additional rights in their favor.
This is normal and understandable.
It is also normal and understandable that the groups that have long been ignored or ridiculed are the most demanding.
Committee
On December 5, Minister Suzanne Roy announced the composition of the committee of wise people responsible for advising the government on issues related to gender identity.
All three people named are highly credible.
The trans fringe of the LGBTQ umbrella protested against the absence of a person who was herself trans within the committee.
The difficulty for the government would have been to find a trans person who was not an activist, since the aim of the committee is to objectively advise the government and not to advance demands.
“One thing is certain: there is no question of rolling back the rights of trans and non-binary people,” said Minister Roy.
Obviously, and no one asks him such a thing.
But what happens when the demands of 0.3% of the population (2021 census) come into conflict with the rights of the 52% of women in the general population?
In The other journal (January 5), Michèle Sirois and three other signatories give concrete examples of this shock.
What about the fairness and safety of women in women’s sports competitions if we include people who are biologically male, but whose gender identity is female?
There have been too many cases to call them anecdotal: boxing, rugby, weightlifting, swimming, etc.
The duty recently reported on the fears of homeless women of being attacked by men in already mixed shelters.
Should we also allow people who are biologically male, but who identify as women, to go to women’s shelters?
Since 2017, federal law has allowed a person who self-declares as a woman to request to go to a women’s prison. Several have spread terror there.
In the educational field, explain the signatories, “segregation aims to protect women and girls who, statistically, are more at risk in intimate spaces (toilets, changing rooms) than their male peers”.
Let us also think of the modesty of the young girl who sees her body change.
Is it exclusion to reserve space for him? I do not believe.
Is it also reasonable to make school an institution committed to facilitating transitions at a young age?
However, this is the case when changes of first names are authorized without informing the parents.
“While you must be 21 years old to buy cannabis, in Quebec teenagers can request mastectomies from the age of 16,” they also recall.
Wisdom
Recognize rights? Yes, if it is justified after calm examination, but to the detriment of the rights of others? No.
This committee of wise men formed by the Legault government will have to demonstrate… wisdom.