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MetroNews collected not only some opinions on Bill C-16 and the concept of extending explicit protections to trans Canadians, but also the demographic data of the respondents. So who is actually against and in favour of the Bill?:

The poll found most Canadians to be in favour of the provisions included in the proposed legislation.

Three in four Canadians (74 per cent) agree with a provision in Bill C-16 that would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and gender expression, and 71 per cent are in favour of updating criminal laws to make it a hate crime when someone is targeted because of their gender identity and gender expression.

In addition, two thirds of Canadians (65 per cent) agree with extending hate speech laws to include the terms gender identity and gender expression.

So why is Metro more optimistic about the findings than I am? Simple: It all falls apart once you actually apply  those protections.

A majority of Canadians (55 per cent) think transgender Canadians should be allowed to use the public bathroom of their choice, while one third (32 per cent) believe their public bathroom use should be based exclusively on biological sex.

There’s a discrepancy here–26% of respondents were not in favour of adding explicit protections to trans Canadians, so if the respondents actually knew what the fuck they were talking about, we would expect close to the same amount opposing the use of appropriate facilities for trans folk. Yet it jumps up to 32% when you actually frame the issue as being about bathrooms. On the inverse, 74% of respondents agreed it was wrong to discriminate against trans folk, but you ask them about washrooms and the portion of supporters sinks to 55%. The bathroom question doesn’t add up to 100% because the rest answered in one of the ambivalent categories.

Now are there any differences by demographic response?

A few observations of the above data:

1. A significant portion of Bill C-16 supporters have not connected the dots that bathroom bills violate the rights of trans folk, ergo Bill C-16 is explicitly an anti bathroom bill. Supporting Bill C-16 would logically mean supporting trans women’s access to women’s facilities. (Disclaimer: Logic is not for everyone, consult your doctor before use).
2. “Wut about teh women!” was obviously never a question asked of the women. As many respondents said affirmatively they support trans women’s access to women’s facilities as women who were ambivalent about it, about 40-45% for both. Only 12% are definitely opposed.
3. A good 40% of my province thinks my facility access should be restricted “definitely”; the majority of opponents are Conservative voters.
4. It’s still a fucking large minority that is against this law and another sizeable chunk that are ambivalent about it.

Sure, I get explicit protections, but how much hate persists anyway if Bill C-16 passes? 30-45%, depending on the issue, basically still makes it a coin flip if something ever happens to me.

It’s probably fair to say there’s some overlap with the men who oppose the bill and the Conservative voters. And guess who is “represented” by a Conservative man at the federal level?

: D

: /

Guys, I seriously hate Alberta.

-Shiv

Edit: I almost forgot! I’m also annoyed by the poll, because it is once again using the busted notion of bio sex being strictly binary and 100% determined by genitalia. Alas.