On September 24 the Canadian conservative newspaper The National Post, which should have gone bankrupt long ago, ran a full-page nationwide advertisement placed by the Institute for Canadian Values, a hate group in the mold of Focus on the Family and the Traditional Values Coalition.
Ostensibly an ad calling for the protection of children, the ad was pure transphobia.
The National Post attempted an apology, explaining how the full-page ad was "erroneously moved through the screening process" before it was run, asking us to basically believe that everyone was so busy that nobody bothered to read it, before botching the apology itself:
Where the ads exceeded the bounds of civil discourse was in their tone and manipulative use of a picture of a young girl; in the suggestion that such teaching 'corrupts' children, with everything that such a charge implies; and in their singling out of a specific group of people who have made choices about their sexuality with which the group disagrees.
--The Mark Newsroom
More, including the actual ad, after the doohickey.
That paragraph differs from what they have in their apology currently. Apparently someone pointed out the offensiveness of "choices about their sexuality". But still there is apparently nobody there who is actually knowledgeable enough to know that transgender is not a sexuality.
The Post claims that it will do all it can to make up for this by refusing to publish the ad again and donating the ill-gotten gains from publishing it previously to an unnamed organization which promotes the rights of LGBT people. As if the ad had anything to do with the LGB part.
Supposedly the ad asks viewers to go to the website StopCorruptingChildren.com, but if one were to go there one would find oneself at the Institute for Canadian Values.
Can someone explain to me how knowing that "transexual [sic], trangendered [sic], intersexed [sic] or two spirited [sic]" people exist corrupts children? None of these are diseases. They cannot be caught. Being any of those is not prima facie evidence of being corrupt or of spreading corruption. we are good people, for the most part.
A coalition of groups has responded:
Human rights are not negotiable. Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Ontario’s Human Rights Code are clear that discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation is prohibited. Canada’s constitutional protections for our diverse communities must be taught in schools.
We call on each of the party leaders to denounce the Institute for Canadian Values’ campaign and to stand in support of human rights in this provincial election.
I note that gender identity and/or expression are not protected characteristics under current Canadian Human Rights Law. A bill to add them has been introduced by members of two parties.
Protection for transpeople requires people, including judges and lawyers, to believe that transgender is a sexuality and is protected as such. This has never worked in the US.
Trans activist Chase Joynt responded with his own ad.
What’s crucial about any curriculum in regard to identity politics is that it’s providing a breadth of options and potentially the inclusion of LGBT rights in any curriculum at any level is that it affords another opinion. While I think there is opportunity to speak to things such as when is age appropriate, the ability to learn about those identities is integral to our success as educators.
--Chase Joynt
Lucas Silveira, himself a transgendered man and lead singer for the rock band the Cliks, says he felt physically sick when he saw the ad. He believes the ad is hate speech and says he intends to take it up with the Canadian Advertising Standards Council.
“The problem is people don’t see public transphobia as a hate crime,” he said. “But if someone put an ad in the National Post asking for Black History Month to be removed from the curriculum, that would be considered unacceptable.”
If Silveira proceeds with filing a complaint about the ad, he could have a strong case. The ad council’s code of standards states that ads should not condone discrimination, encourage bullying, or demean an identifiable group.
--Now Toronto, Toronto school board defends curriculum from "transphobic" ad
The Toronto District School Board believes that early education prevents bullying.
While the ad insinuates that children are being encouraged to swap gender roles in classrooms on a regular basis, Kenneth Jeffers, coordinator for the TDSB’s gender-based violence prevention program, says the board’s anti-homophobia resource guide is not a mandatory part of the curriculum. Rather, he says it’s often used by teachers after a homophobic or sexist incident has taken place and students are already discussing issues of gender or sexuality.
But truth has never been a strong point with anti-transgender hate groups.
The ad tries to create the idea that something is wrong with what we’re doing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kids learn about gender at a very young age. Boys and girls have very stereotypical ideas of what a boy looks like and acts like. There’s nothing wrong with saying that’s true for some people but it’s not true for others.
One of the worst things that a boy can say to another boy in grade one is ‘you’re a girl.’ These lessons aim to deconstruct that, so kids aren’t pigeon-holed. We see the aftermath of bullied kids becoming depressed or even committing suicide, and our response ends up being very reactionary. All the research indicates the best interventions are the early interventions, in the earliest grades.
--Kenneth Jeffers, coordinator of the TDSB gender-based violence protection program
It should be pointed out that this is election material. There is an election October 6 in Ontario. well-known bigot Dr(?) Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College in Toronto (Mr. McVety attended the University of Toronto for two years but never got a degree. His BA and MA come from the institution he now leads, which was founded by his father. His "D.Min." comes from California State Christian University, which has no known accreditation. It's a diploma mill for bigots. It was created by Chi Sun Kim to train Korean evangelists. Funny, Mr. McVety doesn't look Korean.) has called the election "a referendum on teaching our children sexually explicit material".
The SunMedia/Leger poll for the election for premier shows Conservative Tim Hudak at 34%, Liberal incumbent Dalton McGuinty at 32% and NDPs Andrea Horwath closing to 29%. Horwath is acknowledged to be the winner of the final debate.
McVety is hoping to have some effect on the outcome by his appeal to transphobia.
Other reactions are available:
revel & riot: NATIONAL POST RUNS TRANSPHOBIC FULL PAGE AD
Religious Right Alert: National Post runs McVety family values ad
Pink News: Right-wing Canadian group accused of transphobia for ‘confusion’ ad
Xtra!: National Post apologizes for running transphobic ad
ONTARIO ELECTION / Activists called for action in response to 'StopCorruptingChildren.com' campaign
LGBTQNation: Canadian family values group runs transphobic newspaper advertisement
Queer Ontario: Queer Ontario Denounces Offensive ICV Ad in National Post
actually incorrect thinly veiled bigotry and ignorance. Incorrectly ‘advertising’ teaching resource guide material as curriculum, it does nothing more than to distort the truth of the situation and further marginalize the lives of queer and Trans persons of Ontario.
We call on everyone who is just as offended by this “advertisement” and the complicity of the National Post in proliferating it to write to Advertising Standards Canada. As well, think of where you put your money and next time you go to buy a National Post, think again.
--Casey Oraa, Chair, Queer Ontario PAC
Queerty: A Transphobic Ad In Canada Pulls The Old “Think Of The Children” Routine
The Advocate: Canadian Ad Warns Against Trans "Confusion"
Gawker: Canadian Newspaper Issues Half-Assed Apology for Anti-Transgender Ad
And in terms of the anti-trans sentiment here, it has nothing to do with either "sexuality" or "sexual orientation" but rather gender and gender expression. Sure, these are complicated terms and labels, but considering the paper just pissed off a whole bunch of people by running this ad, they might want to look into just what they were going to say before they piss them all off again.