'Hate crimes' bill would allow men to use women’s restrooms, pro-family groups say
OTTAWA, November 8, 2012, – Numerous pro-family organizations and one conservative MP are calling upon citizens to oppose a “hate crimes” bill they warn will allow men to use women’s restrooms and showers.
The private members bill, Bill C-279, would include “gender identity” and “gender expression” in the hate crimes sections of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code.
The controversial bill has been dubbed the “bathroom bill” by critics, who say it would give men a legal alibi to use women’s bathrooms, shower rooms, and changing rooms. They worry this will lead to an increase in sexual assaults.
The bill is expected to face a third reading and final vote any day.
REAL Women of Canada is asking Canadians to tell their MPs to oppose the Bill, “with or without amendments”.
“The major effect of this bill is that transgendered, transsexual, and sexually confused individuals will be given full protection re-employment, services, housing, etc., in public institutions under federal jurisdiction,” the organization stated in a press release. “These behaviors will be ‘normalized’, accepted, and protected. All Canadians are already equal before and under the law. Bill C-279 is not necessary.”
Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition, is also urging Canadians to “contact their MPs and tell them to vote against the bill.”
Hughes told LifeSiteNews.com that he could “not believe the ignorance of MPs who can’t see that this bill is about a special interest group pushing the government to give them special rights.”
“Have courage and speak up,” he said.
The bill, sponsored by NDP LGBTT Critic Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC), passed its second reading last June.
Voting followed party lines, except for 13 Conservative MPs who voted in its favor. They are: Chris Alexander, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Laurie Hawn, Gerald Keddy, Cathy McLeod, Michelle Rempel, David Wilks, Shelly Glover, Bernard Trottier, Michael Chong, John Duncan, Jim Flaherty, Lisa Raitt, Bruce Stanton, and Bernard Valcourt.
A number of Conservative MPs have vocalized their opposition to the bill.
Calgary MP Rob Anders posted a petition on his website asking Canadians to oppose the bill since it would “give transgendered men access to women’s public washroom facilities.”
Anders pointed out that it is “the duty of the House of Commons to protect and safeguard our children from any exposure and harm that will come from giving a man access to women’s public washroom facilities.”
Edmonton MP Brent Rathgeber argued that the bill has a “fatal flaw” in that the “terms ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ are not defined.”
Rathgeber said that the “lack of definitions with respect to the terms creates a huge ambiguity as to who or what activities are to be protected”.
He also pointed out that the bill is redundant since “such individuals already enjoy Human Rights protection because ‘sex’ has always been a prohibited ground of discrimination.”
Jack Fonseca, project manager of Campaign Life Coalition, has called the bill a “threat[ to] the lives of girls and women”.
“It threatens the lives of girls and women by putting them at greater risk from male sexual predators. It will give men a legal alibi for getting caught in the girls bathroom or change room, thereby freeing them to offend another day.”
“Men who plan to assault women in the bathroom, or even a common ‘peeping tom’ hoping to watch girls undress or videotape them, could escape prosecution by pretending to be a cross-dresser,” he said.
Numerous religious and pro-family organizations oppose the bill, including the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, and the Canada Family Action Coalition.
Critics warn that the bill furthers the ideology of the sexual revolution that sees gender as a fluid social construct that can be separated from one’s biological birth sex.
