This is a dangerous time to be a trans person. Instead of protecting trans rights, governments around the world are rolling them back.

Here in Canada, trans people face growing threats to their autonomy, safety, and dignity. They face housing insecurity, a discriminatory labour market, and gender-based violence. In Alberta, trans kids are under attack by Danielle Smith's UCP government, which has set a dangerous new legislative precedent by invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to prop up anti-trans policies.

The rising right is weaponizing disinformation especially about trans kids to distract and divide all Canadians. While governments like Smith’s UCP and Poilievre’s Conservatives try to stir a debate about whether trans kids deserve the right to proper care, her government is privatizing healthcare and clamping down on workers’ rights.

When trans people and other marginalized groups are targeted, all of us are implicated. There can be no neutral bystanders, our fates are intertwined.

On Sunday, March 15 at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET / 3pm AT / 3:30pm NT, join Avi Lewis, Susan Gapka, Celeste Trianon, and Victoria Bucholtz (aka. Karla Marx) for a critical conversation about what trans people are facing and how we can defend trans rights and organize for gender liberation.

Susan Gapka is a trans elder residing in Toronto, Ontario. She has served in the past on the Ontario NDP Executive and as a 2SLGBTQ Co-Chair for the federal NDP.  As a founding member and chair of the Trans Lobby Group, Susan helped lead the Ontario campaign to fund transition related surgeries, helped change the Vital Statistics Act so trans people's legal documents more accurately reflect their lived identity, and successfully campaigned to adopt legislation to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code and Canadian Human Rights Act to include 'gender identity' and 'gender expression'. For the last decade, Susan has been employed at The 519 in Toronto and has had the good fortune to serve on CUPE Ontario’s Executive Board and CUPE National's Pink Triangle Committee. CUPE National awarded her the Grace Hartman award for her advocacy on trans inclusion and in 2018 she became the first openly trans person to receive a key to the city of Toronto.

Celeste Trianon (she/her) is a feminist, jurist, and your local transphobe’s worst nightmare. Apart from being involved in trans rights litigation in Québec, she’s the four-time organizer of the Montréal Trans March, two-time organizer of the Montréal Dyke March, and at the vanguard of tracking anti-trans bills across the country. 

Dr. Victoria Bucholtz (she/her) aka Karla Marx is an organizer, university instructor, drag queen, burlesque performer and comedian based in Calgary. She is the Executive Director of TransAction Alberta and has played a pivotal role organizing against Premier Smith's anti-trans policies.