Vancouver Pride Week starts this week and, if it’s at all possible, we have even more to be proud about this year. In an all-too-rare display of bipartisan co-operation, Attorney General Suzanne Anton and Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert have put together changes to the B.C. Human Rights Code to protect people from discrimination based on gender identity or expression.
It’s an overdue affirmation that transgender people among us face unique challenges and have an equal place at the table in B.C.’s laws. Trans folks still face higher suicide rates, lower income and are more likely to be alienated from family. It’s nice to know our B.C. government will have their backs when it comes to discrimination by employers, businesses or landlords.
It may seem gratuitous, patting British Columbians on the back for updating the Human Rights Code but we must remember, progress doesn’t just happen on its own. In fact, the B.C. Liberals resisted many previous attempts to update the code, arguing it was already up to snuff when it came to trans rights. The people who fought for this and won are to be commended. Trans people in other jurisdictions face far worse.
The NBA announced this week it was pulling its All Star game from the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, in protest over the state’s new anti-LGBT legislation. The law states people must use the washroom corresponding with the sex listed on their birth certificate, denies protection for all LGBT people and forbids workplace discrimination lawsuits from being heard in state courts.
Nothing to be proud of at all.
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