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opinion


PIERRE POILIEVRE MUST REJECT THE TRANSPHOBIC POLICIES HIS PARTY HAS ADOPTED

Justin Ling
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published September 11, 2023
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to delegates at the Conservative
Party Convention, on Sept. 8, 2023 in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian
Press

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Justin Ling is a freelance investigative journalist and writes the Bug-eyed and
Shameless newsletter.

When engaging with the discourse around transgender issues, writes Julia Serano,
beware the Gish gallop.

The debate tactic, named by anthropologist Eugenie Scott after creationist Duane
Gish, involves firing off so many inaccurate or spurious claims that it is
simply impossible to refute them all while still making your point. “Anti-trans
activists love to Gish gallop,” Ms. Serano, an author, biologist, and
transgender activist writes on her blog, “as it’s a convenient way to make it
seem as though an established scientific field is suspect and riddled with
inaccuracies.”

Delegates at this weekend’s Conservative Party convention in Quebec City got
plenty of Gish galloping in, as they debated two resolutions: One to forbid all
gender-affirming health care for trans people under 18 years old, and the other
that would, amongst other things, force trans women to use men’s washrooms.

To make their case, delegates launched a litany of half-true or outright false
claims: Children are undergoing irreversible surgery; little girls are under
threat from trans people in public washrooms; gender dysphoria is akin to
schizophrenia, and so on.

Some delegates tried to sway their fellow Conservatives. One member, a family
doctor, called out the “hypocrisy” of banning health care for trans people. It
“stands against the values of our party – to embrace freedom and bodily
autonomy,” she said. Another tried to explain that a bathroom ban is a solution
in search of a problem.

But with just 30 seconds to make their cases, they had little chance of
dispelling all those myths and falsehoods. The Gish gallop won: Both resolutions
passed with an overwhelming majority.

It is easy to simply write off the Conservative delegates who voted for these
policies as hateful or backward. That will almost certainly be the Liberal
Party’s message. But as Ms. Serano explains, the “moral panic” around
transgender issues “takes advantage of the mainstream public’s lack of awareness
about trans experiences and trans healthcare.” Since most people know virtually
nothing about the actual process of transitioning, they are inclined to believe
that it is novel, risky, irreversible – and aimed at children. And
unfortunately, there are enough zealots, grifters and bigots out there willing
to cherry-pick cases or misrepresent the facts to feed that anxiety.

Yet those anxieties are shared by trans people and the medical profession – and
even helped inform the clinical guidelines. The Canadian Pediatric Society
clearly states: “Medical interventions are not recommended for prepubertal
children.” The medical literature also recognizes that most young children who
express discomfort in their gender will never need or want medical intervention.
For those who continue to experience gender dysphoria – the clinical diagnosis
for feeling uncomfortable in your sex assigned at birth – and opt to transition,
they will receive counseling and therapy at every step of the way. More
permanent interventions, like surgery, are usually not considered until the
person turns 18 years old.

These guidelines are informed by decades of research. Studies show that
gender-affirming care leads to massive improvement in patients’ mental health
and is associated with a reduction in the risk of suicide; it literally saves
lives. And a 2021 systematic review of 27 studies showed that vanishingly few
people who undergo gender confirmation procedures regret their decision.

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Activists and educators like Ms. Serano have worked valiantly to try and convey
these facts. But too often, they are drowned out by the anger and vitriol of our
culture wars. And now, a legislative assault on trans people is under way in the
United States.

The question now: Will Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre play into
those anxieties, or try and allay them?

While his office did not respond to a request for comment, a senior Conservative
told me that Mr. Poilievre and his team are unlikely to endorse the newly
adopted policies, as they know doing so would likely fuel hate. That’s laudable.
But the Conservative Leader probably won’t reject the policies, either – partly
because he and his team simply do not understand the issues well enough to
navigate them. More likely, the Conservative said, Mr. Poilievre will simply
stay mum on the issue.

The Liberal Party, however, is already attacking Mr. Poilievre for his supposed
desire to put LGBTQ rights “up for debate,” as a fundraising missive recently
claimed. These two new Conservative policies will be grist for that mill, no
doubt.

But Mr. Poilievre can do the right thing and turn this issue into a political
winner. He could disrupt the Liberals’ callous effort to wield LGBTQ issues for
their own benefit, put forward his two LGBTQ members of Parliament to actually
engage with the trans community, and help address the anxiety-inducing
misinformation rife amongst his supporters. It starts, however, with rejecting
these two odious, and likely unconstitutional, policies – and riding away from
the Gish gallop.


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