I’m tired of the opinion that Bill C-16 is about taking away a person’s rights when it’s about recognizing them. I’m tired of the fact that it is a certain type of person with this opinion, and I’m tired of the fragile male ego, the one that objects when others succeed in fighting for their own rights—the one that gets in the way of change.
There’s this idea out there that if a group of people who are on the receiving end of hate crimes have laws passed in their favour, then someone else’s rights have suddenly been violated. But rights aren’t about taking away; they’re about creating equality.
Equality is said to be at the core of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; equality ensures that everyone is treated with the same respect, dignity and consideration, and is treated without discrimination. There are those who think that this endangers their freedom of speech, or that they will be attacked if they make a mistake.
Now, it’s easy to forget that there are some things that men just don’t have: fair access to their children, for example, or the ability to be involved in their children’s lives without gender discrimination. The courts must keep in mind the fact that abusive men—who are generally so charismatic that they get their children anyway—are out there. It’s an imperfect system; good dads lose their kids while abusive or neglectful mothers gain custody. But it also protects women who are trying to flee abusive situations.
Men are losing; they aren’t always the breadwinners anymore. They don’t always do the handiwork around the house and they aren’t always the ones fixing the car. Chivalry is on its way out because women are independent, strong, and capable. The “world of man” is being shattered. Women are forcing change and men are backing them up because they want change, too. The definition of feminism has changed (again) to include fighting for men’s rights.
No one likes to feel like they can’t make a mistake, but this isn’t about that. It’s about legally backing a person or a group of people—specifically, a group of people who would benefit from having a change to the charter that includes their gender identity or expression.
Nowhere in Bill C-16 does it say that freedom of speech is being violated. It states that evidence must be given that shows the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice, or hate based on gender identity or expression.
As someone who identifies as non-binary, this is important. My gender-identity rights are violated all the time. It’s more likely that a person will refer to me as a female than call me by my gender-neutral pronouns. I’ve been told that I will always be viewed as female because that’s the body I was born in, that I must compromise on my pronouns, and that I need to be more feminine. So I know that humans have issues treating each other with dignity and respect.
The government must put rules in place so that discrimination is harder to get away with. It’s extremely unfortunate that there are those who can’t see less discrimination as a good thing.