Politic?

Overstepping the Bounds of Tolerance

"[Vancouver Rape Relief is] non-compliant with Canadian law [guilty of] systematic, consistent misbehaviour, [as the last women's shelter in British Columbia to continue denying services to the trans community]."
"I can open any organization I want and discriminate against the people I don't like ... but when I start to bring taxpayer funding into this it makes this entire room [council chamber] responsible for my actions."
"There is a long history of discrimination and violence against transgender women. We are a vulnerable group. There’s stigma and shame .. and then to ask for help and have someone on the phone say ’sorry’ you are not women enough for us to help you....’."
Morgane Oger, transgender advocate, vice-president, British Columbia New Democratic Party

"[Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter is a victim of] discrimination against women in the name of inclusion. [Vancouver City Council is trying to] coerce us to change our position."
"We do not have the experience to offer services to people without the same life experience ... this is not our work."
"Because we are an oppressed group who fights for equality we have a right to decide who our membership is and who we serve."
"Rape Relief is strong enough and principled enough and has enough supporters in the community ... we will say no to that kind of money [financial support from Vancouver city coffers that comes with demands]."
"I think it [the demand] is undemocratic and a very dangerous bullying move on [the part of] of councillors ... It says, ‘If you want the money, change how you operate, change your political principles, change your basis of unity'."
Hilla Kerner, representative, Vancouver Rape Relief

Hilla Kerner speaks to city council about funding for Vancouver Rape Relief. Vancouver Star

The longest-operating rape crisis centre in Canada has a policy of giving aid and support only to females. People transitioning from male to female who contact the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter will get a sympathetic hearing and advice over the telephone but they will not be admitted to the shelter and they will not receive services from the centre which focuses strictly on women. Because they have been unmoving in their strictly female-centered policies the City of Vancouver has voted to discontinue funding the group.

The measure is a disciplinary one, the city council informing the centre and its board of directors that it is not pleased with what it views as intransigence on their part to continue refusing serving the needs of females born as males; men who have transitioned to women and who become victims of sexual violence. "Trans women are women and sex work is work ... I can't support (organizations) who exclude them" wrote Vancouver city councillor Christine Boyle, accusing the organization of "supporting transphobia".

Aye, there's the rub. You may be sympathetic to the plight of transgender women who elicit scorn from society and who are often targeted with violence and certainly are socially discriminated against. But generally speaking, society at large has become more accepting of alternate-sexed, gays, and others who don't represent the norm. Accepting in the sense that they are who they are. And so the tensions inherent in life as a gay or lesbian or trans, is relieved for the most part of the dangers in being 'outed'.

Problems arise, however, when the LGBTQ-2 community insists that they be recognized as entitled to complete inclusion; marriage between same sex couples was merely the appetizer; the push to guide children into differentiated gender streams, to push for the right to impose upon the rest of society the adamant need to change the English lexicon to address them differently, the yearly exhibitions of crude and colourful 'parades' not pleasing to everyone, has the tendency to invoke annoyance not support among many in society.

And thrusting upon general society the obligation to recognize LGBTQ-2 'rights' to the extent where their charter rights are paramount and the charter rights of others who prefer not to be engaged with them in the provision of services creates yet another burden that many in society are not prepared to shoulder. Born female, and fleeing male violence, the Rape Relief shelter dedicates itself to these vulnerable women; it is gender-specific in its mission.

That trans-activists have enlisted sympathizers to their cause of 'equal' treatment to place the security and comfort of women in general in jeopardy they choose confrontation and slander over accommodation. When transgender women feel they are entitled to impose themselves on groups whose mandate is other than to serve them, they do a disservice to the greater community and to themselves as well.

From 2020 forward, city council in Vancouver has voted to no longer fund any of the activities of the Rape Crisis centre. That funding by no means amounts to their entire operation's funding; the city provides them with $33,972 annually, which the group uses for educational outreach "free and accessible and available to everyone", including trans people. Not good enough for Vancouver council which will deny access to those funds "until such time as the organization makes changes to become aligned with City policies."

In fact, the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter's operating funds amount to $1-million annually, an amount mostly provided to them by the Province of British Columbia. Since its founding in 1974 the centre restricts its core services; peer counselling sessions, shelters or transition homes to women born female. And it has faced criticism for its refusal to admit trans women for those services. A criticism that the centre is resigned to, but refuses to succumb to.

A post-operative transgender woman denied progamming at Vancouver Rape Relief launched a discrimination lawsuit in 1995 against the centre. "She was rejected from the training program because she did not share the same life experiences as women born and raised as girls and into womenhood", stated the centre. And the B.C. Court of Appeals found that argument reasonable, ruling in favour of the centre. When an appeal was made to the Supreme Court of Canada, it was denied.

An East Vancouver candy shop, the Licorice Parlour, had placed a poster advertising a fundraiser for the Rape Relief centre in May, and it became the focus of trans activists resulting in online harassment and slanderous reviews calling them out for being "oppressive" and "transphobic". Women who are feminists tend to support women's needs. Should government really feel that transgender women require similar support for their dissimilar backgrounds adjusting to a new reality a standalone centre specifically geared to their needs becomes an option.

In the meantime, little wonder there is push-back from that segment of society that is fed up with the LGBTQ-2 community believing its rights supersede all others', and in the pursuit of gaining never-ending concessions go on to demand more and in the process don't mind stepping on other groups' rights to achieve their ends using means both fair and foul.