Let’s talk briefly about young people.
Seeing the news, I thought it would be good to do a simple little reminder. Let’s say instead that it would be wise to talk about what is happening in the neighboring province, New Brunswick, where the Prime Minister has proposed to force schools to reveal to the parents of minors who wish to remain anonymous if they have decided to identify with a gender other than the one assigned at birth, or have changed their first name for the same reason.
First, it would be good to remember that there is a very simple reason why, initially, this information was not required to be disclosed to parents. And the reason is that the safety of young people, who can sometimes find themselves in a family that shows transphobia and homophobia, depends on it. It is simply to prevent these same young people from being rejected by their families and/or being pressured to deny their identity. Because growing up in a nightmare where your family denies you and hates who you are is, let’s face it, not the best scenario for avoiding trauma.
So at its core, it’s about showing humanity and protecting the health and safety of young people. Nothing else.
But, like a poison, political ideas from south of the border are slowly making their way here to the most right-wing politicians, and have been for quite a while now. We can easily see it at the federal level as well as at the provincial level, where certain public figures designate those who do drag, and at the same time trans people, as being a danger for young people. More and more, this kind of discourse is making its way into the population by dint of it being hammered home. It would be enough to forget for us to remember, because it is the same speech as 50 years ago, when we shouted to anyone who wanted to listen that gay men were going to pervert children. The world is changing, but not that much. Yet, none of this misfortune that had been predicted happened.
And today, very slowly, this hatred is back. This hatred that claims to want to protect in order to better exclude. And although one may feel safe in a province that boasts of its “openness”, the sun will not have set on our benevolence that intolerance will not take time to ring. She will settle down warm in the living room of our opinions while we watch her do it.
And by then, it may already be too late.