Dear Sir:
I have to send a rebuttal to the letter written by Rod Taylor, "Don't spent tax money on MP promotions, posted on line on March 10.
He writes to complain about newsletters to constituents from the offices of MPs. I have to say that I receive several of these each month from my own MP, who happens to be Conservative, and these are rife with Tory propaganda.
I also want to mention his complaint about Bill C389, which his local MP, Nathan Cullen, voted for. This is not a 'bathroom bill' as he puts it. This is an often used red herring designed to cause irrational panic. It will not give 'sexually confused men' or any sort of sexual predator, access to women's washrooms. Predatory behaviour and harassment will remain illegal under C389, just as it is now. In the 40 years since laws like this came to be in North America, there hasn't been a single case of a transgender person being brought up on such charges.
What this bill does do is to enshrine in the Charter, equal rights for transgender people. Currently, trans people have no protection when it comes to jobs, families, homes and we face some of the highest rates of murder and violence of any group. I do not understand how anybody can be against this.
By the way, Mr. Taylor, I am not confused. I know better than most people exactly who I am. Indeed, I have been through hell trying to claim it. It is everybody around me that is confused, depending more upon what I look like as opposed to who I am as a person.
Natalie Murray,
Trenton, Ontario