The appearance of flyers in Chilliwack targeting transgender people is raising red flags among trans-rights advocates.
The flyers, which describe transgender people as “an abomination,” were distributed in the neighbourhood of Sardis sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, according to one social media user who shared images of them online.
Chilliwack RCMP have yet to respond to a request for comment about the flyers.
The flyers, which claim to have been produced by the KKK, go on to describe trans people as “freaks” who are “jeopardizing the safety of bathrooms all across the nation for our women and children.”
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A 2016 review by U.S. non-profit Media Matters of 16 states and 23 school districts with gender-inclusive bathroom policies found no evidence of trans “bathroom predators” or sexual assaults related to the laws.
Earlier this year, Canada passed legislation explicitly protecting transgender people from discrimination.
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“It makes my heart sink. I had hoped that this wouldn’t escalate,” said Morgane Oger, chair of the Trans Alliance Society of B.C.
The conversation around transgender issues has recently grown heated in Chilliwack amid debate over the province’s sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum, known as SOGI 123.
READ MORE: Barry Neufeld, Chilliwack school trustee, compares gender transitioning to ‘child abuse’
Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld has recently faced calls to resign after he made comments comparing gender transitioning to child abuse.
“Throwing around KKK flyers is a socially inappropriate act for everybody in Canada. Yet now, after this wave of transphobic messaging coming from these hateful organizations and people, we find ourselves with people finding somehow the backbone to do this,” said Oger.
The anti-trans flyers aren’t the first hateful material to be distributed in the Fraser Valley.
Earlier this year, flyers purportedly from the KKK were distributed to more than 70 homes in Abbotsford. In 2016, similar flyers were distributed in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission.
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