Discussions and arguments surrounding the trans community in Saskatoon have prompted one resident to step up and talk about their first-hand experience with the hate directed at them.
Rae Paterson is a non-binary person who is trans, and had top surgery to remove their breasts last year.
Paterson says they deal with being confronted or verbally abused multiple times a week, giving examples of times they were outright called a “f—-t” in public.
“In the community I look more visibly trans than I used to.”
“In the summer specifically, I was at the beach, and I was coming back from the beach at sunset and I had an older gentleman waiting at my car for me. He started to verbally threaten me,” Paterson added.
They noted that they tried to deescalate the situation, adding that they’ve learned not to engage in these kinds of things.
“But when I’m by myself at a beach, at a private place, and someone is waiting at my vehicle to threaten me, it’s very off putting.”
“They said, ‘We don’t want your kind around here’; they were yelling,” Paterson said.
“They were like, ‘If you ever come back here again it’s going to be a problem for you.’ This was out at Cranberry Flats.”
Paterson said they felt apprehensive, but wasn’t surprised by the hate.
They said they now have to take these incidents into consideration when they go out to places, adding they try to bring friends along so they aren’t alone if they get confronted.
“I’m more wise when I go places, I won’t go to the beach alone anymore.”
Paterson said this is the reality of this climate, adding that there’s been a loss of government funding for programs that support trans people, as well as growing lack of awareness that trans people have been here all along.
“People feel threatened by us, instead of understanding that we’re part of society.”
Paterson has two young kids, and says these confrontations happen regardless of whether the kids are around or not.
They add it’s a teaching moment for them.
“There was a drag story time at Wonderhub, and me and my kids went to that. We have a Wonderhub pass, they love that space. There was a protest outside, and then the queer community was just there with rainbow flags.”
“My kids were like, ‘Why are those people screaming because we are going to a story?'” Paterson added.
Paterson said they would have to tell their kids that when people view them as different, they feel scared of that difference.
Paterson said the queer community is very supportive, but added that it can feel very small at times.
They noted the importance of allies speaking up and doing that work.
“If you just say you’re an ally, but you don’t do any work it actually has impact on my life, because when you normalize it in your families, then the threat becomes less towards me.”
Paterson said more funding and supports are needed for the trans community.
“In our health-care system, a lot of trans folks won’t access the health care that they need, because still they’re getting misgendered when they go in.”
“More supports for us equals a safer society for us,” Paterson added.
Marie Lovrod is the graduate chair of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at USask, and said anti-LGBTQ2 hate is becoming much more visible.
Lovrod said a lot of radicalization and polarization took place online during the pandemic.
“So now I think we’re seeing the effects of that as people come out more into the public space and are being more aggressive in creating polarizing views around minoritized communities, including the queer community.”
Lovrod said groups and individuals are being targeted, noting some corners of society are using diversity as a tool for polarization.
When asked where this hate and gender-based violence is coming from, she listed several things.
“As an educator I would say that it comes from misinformation, fear, lack of critical education, and attached to the fear I think a thirst for power at the expense of others,” she said. “It’s a very weak way to think and behave, but I think some people are attracted to it because they have a lot of pain and frustration of their own.”
“Hate thrives in both disparity and ignorance,” Lovrod added.
She said misinformation needs to be countered with good information and caring communities that are invested in the well-being of everyone in them.
Lovrod said she witnessed that kind of hatred at the Shaw Centre in Saskatoon recently.
There has been intolerance and an outcry online after unconfirmed reports of a person with male anatomy in the female changeroom at the city leisure centre.
“I was quite taken aback at the very serious refusals to even try to understand.”
She said there were two groups that tried to speak towards the end.
“It felt like a very violent situation for members of the queer community.”
Lovrod said they were at an event at the Shaw Centre, and her group was approached by a stranger.
“A person came up to the queer support community where I was, and there was a very small number of people, and they were just trying to determine who we were. And when they figured it out they basically came right up to our faces and started screaming loaded questions,” Lovrod said.
“So it was hard to say anything at all, and it was a clear sign that rational understanding was off the table.”
A 2018 report highlighted by Statistics Canada called the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS) said sexual minorities in Canada are more likely to be violently victimized in their lifetime than heterosexual people.
The report noted that a large number of physical and sexual assaults go unreported for a number of reasons.
It said that if you exclude violence committed by an intimate partner, 59 per cent of sexual minorities have been physically or sexually assaulted since the age of 15.
In comparison, about 37 per cent of heterosexual people reported the same.
Those stats jump when looking at Indigenous sexual minorities. The report says 73 per cent of Indigenous sexual minorities have been physically assaulted and 65 per cent have been sexually assaulted.
A report in 2022 from Canada’s Department of Justice corroborates this data with its own study, A Qualitative Look at Serious Legal Problems: Trans, Two-Spirit, and Non-Binary People in Canada.
“We have already demonstrated that trans, Two-Spirit, and non-binary people face wide-ranging forms of adversity, barriers, and harm in many interpersonal and institutional contexts. In fact,
every participant in this study described being subjected to violence and abuse. Some reported isolated (but no less severe) incidents of abuse, while others revealed that violence and oppression
were common, if not constant, across various spheres of their lives,” the report read.
People in the study reported verbal and psychological harassment and abuse, but also physical violence.
“Participants also reported being subjected to physical violence, which includes isolated, occasional, or sustained incidents such as attacks by strangers, domestic violence, abuse by family members, sexual assault, and violent interactions with persons in positions of authority.”
The study also has quotes from participants describing some of the incidents of violence they experienced.
“They jumped me from behind, they ran up and jumped me from behind and just started punching me in the head. It was one man that came up first, and then I took him on, and the other one jumped in, and both of them started attacking me and punching me,” said one participant, Kiva.
The Government of Canada website says that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
“‘Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration.’ All people, including LGBTQ2I individuals, are entitled to enjoy the protection provided by international human rights law, which is based on equality and non-discrimination,” the website says.