How to Fight Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party as LGBTQ+

Last weekend the Ontario PC party met for their annual convention where they passed a contentious resolution that is essentially a slap in the face for human rights in Ontario.

That resolution reads:

Policy resolution R4 – Education and Community Safety
Proposed by Tanya Granic Allen (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound)

Be it resolved that an Ontario PC Party recognizes “gender identity theory” for what it is, namely, I highly controversial, and unscientific “liberal ideology”; and, as such, that an Ontario PC government will remove the teaching and promotion of “gender identity theory” from Ontario schools and its curriculum.

It’s worth your time to read this article and watch the videos (apologies in advance for the stress and frustration this may cause): Ontario PC Party passes resolution to debate recognition of gender identity

What the Hell do we Do Now?

Admittedly it’s hard to know where to start. I could break down the resolution and explain its flaws. I could dive into the plentiful amount of scholarly research on gender identity theory that can easily be found with a simple Google search. So much for gender identity theory being unscientific – apparently the the Ontario PC Party has never used Google.

This is a game that ideological, religious conservatives, and the far right love to play. They will say something like, “research has shown…”, but they either don’t tell you what research they are referring to, or they ignore the fact that there is far more research that proves their point is false. This has become the Trump phenomenon south of our border where nearly everything he says is a lie, and the more he exaggerates the lie, the more people believe it.

This is what is now trickling into Conservative Canadian politics, and we have to be careful to keep watch on what they say and what they do. With the rise of Andrew Sheer and Doug Ford populism literally blowing their wads of conservatism all over each other, thinking that “This can’t happen here” is not only ignorant, it’s downright dangerous.

We know where this can lead…

Did you notice the title of the resolution? Since when is gender identity a community safety issue? I can only imagine a bunch of non-binary gender identified individuals spreading their ideologies and corrupting the minds of white, conservative children. Oh wait, that does happen! It’s called Drag Queens reading to kids at the Toronto Reference Library during Pride Month!

Gender identity “theory” is a theory, it’s not an ideology.

Conservatives are trying to confuse the issue. Calling gender identity theory a “liberal ideology” is simply ignorant. The only ideology in question is what’s at the core of Policy Resolution R4: there are only two sexes and two genders (and some believe that gender and sex are the same).

Saying something that you don’t agree with is an ideology is illogical and wrong. We know why Ford is doing this, to appease his voter base that doesn’t affirm the rights of LGBTQ+ people. This is a base of people who have a lot of power at the moment – and they have their party of choice with a majority hold on the Ontario Legislature. For this reason alone we must remain vigilant and highly critical of everything the Ford party does.

In the case of Resolution R4, even though the Party backtracked and stated that the resolution is a “debate item for next year’s convention”, and not policy, that DOES mean they will be preparing. They will be fighting, petitioning, strong-arming, fund-raising, and running around like Reverend Lovejoy’s wife from the Simpson’s screaming, “Somebody think of the children!”

Let me be perfectly clear: the Ontario PC Party has officially taken a transgressive stance against transgender rights.

This is a very slippery slope towards violating human rights in Canada. And by the way, how arrogant of the Party to do this during Trans Awareness Month!

Lastly, making the statement that the Party will remove the teaching and promotion of gender identity theory from Ontario schools and its curriculum is a form of ideology in itself, because,

“An ideology is a collection of normative beliefs and values that an individual or group holds for other than purely epistemic reasons.” – Source

To be fair – and might I add much more correctly – we can say that,

The Ontario PC Party has passed a resolution, that is a highly controversial, unscientific, “conservative, religious ideology”.

There is still hope at the end of the rainbow…

But we can’t rest on hope alone. Setbacks happen amidst progress. While an Ontario PC Party majority surely begs the question of the paradox of “progressive” next to “conservative”, we need to speak out louder than those who are against us. We need to educate. We need to be more visible, and even more welcoming than before.

If ever there was a time to flaunt it, that show began the minute Ford won a majority this past June.

Darren Stehle, GGN Editor

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