podcast friday

[sabotabby]

 Yeah yeah yeah I know the last thing we need to talk about is Marlaina Smith's anti-trans laws in Alberta but like. We still need to talk about Marlaina Smith's anti-trans laws in Alberta. It's obviously a horrible precedent in any number of ways for trans people and also any number of groups besides trans people (given that now any provincial government feels free to violate the rights of any protected group on a whim—the Notwithstanding Clause gives dictatorial powers to any majority government, and you could be next). Marlaina herself is an interesting figure, beyond the fact that she goes by a name that is not the first name listed on her birth certificate, even though she thinks that little James shouldn't be allowed to go by Jimmy, let alone Jane, unless their parents file a novel's worth of paperwork with the school. She was elected as a small government libertarian. Like, that's obviously a bad thing to be, as they're generally for murdering homeless people and crashing the economy and the like, but they're also a "screw everyone equally" kind of ideology. So why is she suddenly so interested in having the state examine children's genitals?

And how popular is this really? Will the public actually get on board?

Mattea Roach, who is nonbinary themselves, interviews Hannah Hodson, the Tories' first ever trans candidate, and Mel Woods, senior editor at Xtra Magazine in the Backbench episode "Why Are Conservatives Obsessed With Trans People?" Hannah is a particularly interesting person, because if you, like me, wondered "why would a trans woman ever be a Tory???," it means you're basically not from Alberta. Alberta conservatism is a particularly complicated set of conflicting ideologies, and it's not always what you would expect.

But more interesting than Hannah's beliefs and background is her inside look into party politics, and just how few people are involved in making major decisions. I've experienced this a bit with the NDP riding association, which I was sort of peripherally involved in for a bit—it's just not a lot of people determining policy??? and they're not really representative of the population as a whole. It's even more extreme with the Tories. They tend to dominate Canadian politics, and the media has already appointed Pierre Poilievre as the next prime minister (an interesting thing, as the Canadian public hasn't had a chance to vote about it yet), but it's actually a very small number of people who get to decide who runs and what the platform will be. 

This is why, while the vast majority of Canadians could give zero shits about trans issues, we both export and import culture war bullshit (similar to what we do with oil and gas, come to think of it). Basically one or two guys, primarily Torontonian zombie-lobster JPete, get to decide that we all have to make a big deal about trans kids, and now we're going to be stuck with a bitcoin-obsessed debate club nerd as PM doing to Canada's environment and economy what Marlaina has done to Alberta's. Which is both horrifying, and kind of inspiring, because a tiny group of fanatics is much easier to deal with than a nation of sociopaths.

Anyway, I'm not sure if that's the lesson I'm mean to take from it, but it is quite fascinating in a trainwrecky way.

Comments

[greylock]

Marlaina herself is an interesting figure, beyond the fact that she goes by a name that is not the first name listed on her birth certificate, even though she thinks that little James shouldn't be allowed to go by Jimmy

Admittedly, this argument is silly, but it creates good japes.


She was elected as a small government libertarian

That's how you know she lies.

And how popular is this really? Will the public actually get on board?

In Alberta? Canada's Texas without the cities?

This is why, while the vast majority of Canadians could give zero shits about trans issues, we both export and import culture war bullshit

OTOH, the opposite might be true. I feel like if America didn't gay marry, we'd not have had the discussion here, and if there were not the Tennessee bathroom bill trans issues wouldn't be a big thing.


So why is she suddenly so interested in having the state examine children's genitals?

You know why! Adrenochrome!


I can't believe you ignored ArriveCan!!!!!
(I actually haven't seem much about it outside Twitter, so I it's not a thing? It matches a similar scandal here so...
(Also... your Parliament seems worse than ours or the UK)

[sabotabby]

Admittedly, this argument is silly, but it creates good japes.

Nah, it's a legit strategy for making this policy unenforceable. You literally en masse follow the rule to the letter and every time a kid wants to go by a nickname (without changing pronouns, and especially if you know the parent is on-side) you go through the whole procedure.

In Alberta? Canada's Texas without the cities?

It's a bit more complicated than that. Like Naheed Nenshi, who was the mayor of Calgary and now is maybe going higher up, was imo a genuinely groundbreaking and good politician. And as you can tell by the name, it points to at least pockets of Alberta not being as redneck as everyone thinks. There's also a very high Indigenous population, which tends to be a lot more politically progressive.

(I mean I consider it a hellscape and wouldn't want to live there but also I have people there I deeply care about who love it, and thus I cannot write it off.)

I can't believe you ignored ArriveCan!!!!!
(I actually haven't seem much about it outside Twitter, so I it's not a thing? It matches a similar scandal here so...
(Also... your Parliament seems worse than ours or the UK)

I know there are people who have no choice and aren't privileged, but I consider the entire ArriveCan scandal to be mostly a thing for people with able-bodied privilege and lots of money, so I don't care about it at all.

[greylock]

Nah, it's a legit strategy for making this policy unenforceable.

It seems to be working down in Floridastan and some other places were the book bans are becoming "problematic".

There was a time, many years ago, when if asked I would have replied Calgary was Canada's capital.

Even today I have trouble remembering Ottawa exists.

I only know ArriveCan exists because of Twitter. And I only paid attention because it mirrored two scandals under our past government that concerned massive no bid contracts to tiny companies. Although ours covered not only a COVID app, but also security in our offshore detention centres.

[ioplokon]

In the US, I think it's mainly financially motivated, for politicians at least. You get big super pac donations and groups buy up tons of ad time (it's also a way to force networks to air anti-trans propaganda bc they can't unequally refuse campaign ads). Basically the party gets a ton of cash from evangelicals (& possibly also Russia, though I've mainly seen evidence of them funding campaigns in Europe) for wasting everyone's time on this.

Not sure if it's similar in Canada, but if I were a real journalism, that's where I'd look.

[sabotabby]

It's totally the same here, yes.

[dissectionist]

I remember when the Tories marched in Pride with an “L G B Tory” sign. I’m guessing Hannah made the same mistake; she knew she was a T but thought that meant “Tory”.

[sabotabby]

HAH.

(Her journey is really interesting, though. She's no longer a Tory.)

[rydra_wong]

because if you, like me, wondered "why would a trans woman ever be a Tory???," it means you're basically not from Alberta.

We also have a trans Tory in the UK, Jamie Wallis MP.

N.B. Wallis got forced into coming out as trans because of blackmail and other things, clearly way, WAY before feeling ready to, and has requested that people continue using he/him pronouns and his current name for him for now, but is transfem.

It's a bit heartbreaking watching him speak out about transphobia in his party and get ignored: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/16/jamie-wallis-accuses-fellow-tory-mps-of-exploiting-trans-issues-during-contest-for-pm

[sabotabby]

Ugh, that's the worst.

Our politics are different in some respects—like I don't know if Red Toryism is even a thing there??? It used to be much more of a big tent before it was taken over by fanatics. Like, would I ever vote for Joe Clark or Michael Chong? Maybe not but I feel like they're both kind of normal and to the left of a lot of Liberals.

[rdi]

The UK never had anything akin to Red Tories, and it only got worse under Thatcher (spit) (May She Rot In Hell) and her successors.

And yes, 70s Conservatives were definitely more moderate than contemporary Liberals (in Canada) or I suspect even Labour (in the UK)

[misyachnakvitka]

That my dear, is a slippery slope. :o

[sabotabby]

?

[misyachnakvitka]

Trans issues are, like you said are not on a lot of peoples minds and therefore taboo (Still...)

[sabotabby]

Yeah, very true.

[misyachnakvitka]

And that is fucking sad. :(

[lynnenne]

Which is both horrifying, and kind of inspiring, because a tiny group of fanatics is much easier to deal with than a nation of sociopaths.

That IS a good lesson to take from it! I always new there was way too much power concentrated in the PMO but I didn't realize it was THAT concentrated.

[sabotabby]

I have a friend who fully took over a Republican riding association (or whatever they call them down there) with a small group of Communists. It's a funny story.

But yeah a shockingly few number of people are involved in the decisions that fuck the rest of us over, so it should be easy to. um. rebalance the scales.

[minoanmiss]

reads with interest

How much are trans Tories like Log Cabin [gay] Republicans?

[sabotabby]

A bit but also like. Alberta politics is just a different thing. It's very based on resource extraction and entitlement, which is not to paint Alberta Tories as good people but they have a different set of bad priorities than Tories elsewhere.