＂Alberta is embarking on a genocidal campaign...＂
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
156.36105
Summary
Transgender youth in Alberta are being denied access to puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy, and the government is working to make it impossible to grow up and become a trans adult. Charlotte Dalwood explains why this is bad news, and what you can do to fight back.
Transcript
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So if you haven't been following the news out of Alberta, you've missed a lot.
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My name is Charlotte Dalwood. I'm a journalist with Extra Magazine and with Rabble.ca,
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and I'm going to walk you through exactly what's come down the pipes from Premier Daniel Smith
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with regards to trans people, and what's at stake for trans people, and what you can do to fight back.
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So yesterday, Alberta's Premier Daniel Smith announced dramatic and draconian changes
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to Alberta's approach to the health care, education, and inclusion of transgender youth.
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Alberta will now prohibit children 15 years old and younger from accessing puberty blockers
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The province will now prohibit children 17 years old and younger from accessing gender-confirming top and bottom surgeries.
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Alberta will now require schools to obtain parents' permission before recognizing the chosen names
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and pronouns of students 15 years old and younger.
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And for students aged 16 or 17, schools will only be required to notify their parents first,
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Alberta will prohibit trans women from competing in women's sports,
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and it's going to start working with sporting authorities to create sex-segregated leagues.
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Well, what's going on is that Alberta is committing state violence against its trans population.
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And we need to be very clear about the consequences here.
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but just consider with me for a minute why gender-affirming health care in particular is necessary in the first place.
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The reason it's necessary is that gender dysphoria wreaks havoc on the minds and bodies of those who suffer from it.
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Now, by gender dysphoria, what I'm talking about is the felt incongruent some people,
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experience between the sex they were assigned at birth and the gender with which they identify.
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Some youth with gender dysphoria end up needing long-term counseling.
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And that's because gender dysphoria is strongly linked to suicidality amongst gender-diverse children.
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One study estimated that between 32% and 50% of trans people of all ages have attempted suicide at least once.
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Another study found that trans youth in particular are five times more likely than their cis peers to attempt suicide.
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And another study found that in 2014, one in three trans youth had attempted suicide.
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And it's by affirming trans people in their gender diversity.
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Trans people who want puberty blockers and receive them have a lower lifetime risk of suicidality
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than trans people who want puberty blockers and do not get them.
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Trans and non-binary youth who receive gender-affirming health care, including puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy,
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And where 67% of transitioning people think about suicide pre-transition,
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only 3% think about suicide post-medical transition.
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This is exactly the sort of safe and effective care that Alberta is going to start denying to trans youth.
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And the consequences are going to be more than academic.
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Okay, there's another thing we need to be clear about.
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And we should care that Alberta is going to eradicate many of those lives.
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But don't lose sight of the long-term goal underlying the province's approach.
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The point of making it impossible to be a trans youth is to make it impossible to grow up and become a trans adult.
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The point of killing trans youth is to wipe out the next generation of trans adults.
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The point of everything the province is doing is to destroy trans people as a meaningful population.