Canada Is Making a Huge Move to Protect Transgender People
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The political party of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced a bill to protect transgender people just as several states in the U.S. are considering and enacting bathroom laws to discriminate against trans people.
Tuesday is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia and Canada's Liberal Party wants all Canadians to feel "safe and free to be ourselves," according to CBC News.
Trudeau said that he is proud of the steps his country has taken to protect transgender people but that there is much more to be done, according to CBC News.
"As a society, we have taken many important steps toward recognizing and protecting the legal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning or two-spirited community. There remains much to be done, though."
He posted his support for LGBT rights on Facebook.
He received mostly praise for his party's big move.
Facebook/Justin Trudeau - facebook.com
The Liberal Party's bill would change the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada to ban discrimination based on a person's gender identity or expression, and protect transgender people from hate propaganda, according to BuzzFeed. The bill is expected to pass in the Canadian house but supporters may have to put in some work to get it through the Canadian Senate.
Here in the U.S., President Barack Obama has issued guidelines for public schools that they should accommodate transgender children in their bathrooms. Also Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the U.S. Justice Department have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state of North Carolina for its controversial and discriminatory bathroom bill that tries to force people to use the bathroom according to the gender on their birth certificate.
