We are lesbian, gay, and bisexual Canadians. At present, LGB Alliance Canada is the only Canadian organization advocating for the rights of same-sex attracted people. We are part of a growing international movement, with branches in over a dozen countries. Our organization campaigns for the rights of LGB people in Canada to live and be recognized as full members of society, on the basis of our same-sex attraction.

We are fighting a new homophobia.

While you may have been led to believe that LGB people have achieved full legal rights in Canada, at present, our rights are being dialed back.

Let us explain.

We are facing a new kind of homophobia because we maintain that biological sex is the basis of our attraction. Organizations that claim to represent us (e.g., advocacy, HR, diversity and inclusion initiatives) now insist that gender identity is more important than biological sex. The concept of ‘gender identity’ comes from a new belief system which says that every person has an internal sense of a gendered essence, which makes them a man, a woman, neither, both, or even something else entirely.

The ‘gender identity’ belief system posits that biological sex is unimportant (or even, to some extremists, nonexistent). This is in direct conflict with the scientific facts of same-sex attraction: our sexual orientation is centred on our biological sex and the biological sex of our partners.

The gender identity belief system dictates that everyone’s internal feelings override their biological sex, not just to themselves: it mandates that everyone else must view them the same way, even in such deeply personal matters as who we choose to date and who we’re sexually attracted to. Organizations that were originally founded to support same-sex attracted Canadians are now telling lesbians and gays that we must be open to dating and having sex with people of the opposite sex, and they are shaming and expelling us for resisting such coercion. As homosexuals, we find this to be nothing short of homophobia.

Biological sex-based attraction is not “hate” and it’s not a “genital fetish” that must be unlearned.

Extremist views about gender identity have many negative consequences for LGB Canadians. For example, terms like ‘lesbian’ and ‘gay’ are being redefined to include heterosexual people. Lesbians and gays are being kicked out of our own organizations for asserting our exclusive same-sex attraction. Adherents of this new belief system decry exclusive same-sex attraction as “hate.” This new homophobia has particularly impacted lesbians who, as women, have historically had less power to maintain sexual and other boundaries. Lesbians today face constant and aggressive transgressions of their boundaries by heterosexual males who have been empowered and emboldened to intrude on lesbian spaces by extreme gender identity beliefs. It’s gotten so bad that many lesbian social groups have been forced to go underground to avoid homophobic harassment.

It’s like we’ve gone back to the 1950s.

LGB people in Canada struggled for decades to be recognized as same-sex attracted people and to hold the same rights in society as our heterosexual brothers and sisters. Our organization fights to uphold these hard-won rights because extreme ‘gender identity’ beliefs are currently being enshrined in legislation, and they are eroding our human rights. This includes: our right to assemble, our right to self-definition, our right to have our own spaces, and our right to be represented and recognized in Canadian laws and institutions. We are same-sex attracted people, not same-gender identity attracted people, and It is our human right to be recognized as such, and to be protected from discrimination on this basis.

We speak out against sexual coercion and assaults against lesbians while ‘2SLGBTQI+’ advocacy groups remain silent.

There are already many instances in which extreme gender identity beliefs have infringed on LGB Canadians’ rights: we’ve seen the destruction of LGB-only and single-sex spaces and the forced redefinition of our sexuality, including sexual coercion and assaults against lesbians. Our interests are no longer represented by what were formerly known as gay rights organizations, all of which (except for us) have entirely abandoned their focus on the rights of same-sex attracted Canadians and instead turned towards advocating that everyone’s ‘gender identity’ feelings override their sex. But these two groups of people — same-sex attracted people and cross-gender-identifying people — have different experiences and different needs. This difference must be recognized by Canada’s laws and institutions. Otherwise, our human rights are in jeopardy — and that includes the human rights of our fellow same-sex attracted Canadians who currently subscribe to alternative gender identities.

A medical scandal is unfolding right now.

In the last decade, Canada has seen the widespread adoption of a new medical protocol for children and adolescents, which espouses the immediate use of powerful and experimental drugs, synthetic hormones, and invasive surgeries to permanently modify the bodies of children and young adults who are experiencing distress or confusion about their biological sex. The backers of this protocol are activists who have re-framed asking questions as cruel and regressive bigotry. They vehemently oppose the use of exploratory talk therapy to try and uncover the source of a child’s confusion about sex and gender, and they’re attempting to block any scientific inquiry into the sudden, unexplained, exponential explosion in young patients experiencing distress about the sex of their bodies.

This is the beginning of a massive medical scandal. Countries in Europe that have historically been world leaders in the rights of same-sex attracted people — including Sweden, Finland, France, and the United Kingdom — are now among the first countries to sound the alarm about the harm being done to vulnerable young people by this new, extreme, and experimental medical protocol, which disproportionately harms same-sex attracted young people.

There is a robust body of solid scientific evidence, amassed over half a century, from studies conducted all around the world, which shows that children who experience distress about their sex will most likely grow up to be gay or lesbian if they are not medically interfered with. This is a phase that many children go through as a part of the development of their latent homosexuality. Attempts to “fix” these children with what is euphemistically called “gender affirming care” amount to attempts to pre-emptively “cure” their homosexuality.

As more light is being shone on the harm done, a tidal wave of “detransitioners” who’ve been physically harmed and sterilized by unrestrained “gender affirming” medicine is heading our way. Lawmakers across Europe are moving to restore balance, nuance, and proper scientific oversight to the medical treatment of gender-distressed patients. It’s our hope that Canada will join such European countries in taking the lead to restore the balance and reduce the harm that we believe is currently being done to a generation of same-sex attracted people.

We are entirely non-partisan.

Far too often, disputes about sexual orientation and gender identity are seen through a lens of partisan politics and tribal allegiances. We reject this entirely, and we decry the “culture war” attitude that pervades so much discussion around LGB and T issues. All LGB Canadians have their rights ensrined in the Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, regardless of their political or religious beliefs and affiliations, and we’re committed to upholding the rights of all LGB Canadians equally. We’re not aligned with the political left or the right, and we’re not affiliated with any religious groups — and it is one of our core founding principles that we will always be politically and religiously nonpartisan. The diversity of our membership reflects our commitment to keeping our advocacy above the fray of partisan politics and entirely rooted in facts, science, and secular law. Our purview is LGB rights, pure and simple.

We ask for respectful dialogue and open discussion.

Contrary to many gender-identity adherents, we wish to openly discuss our different needs; we aim to foster coexistence and mutual respect. We want dialogue that acknowledges and appreciates the differences in our lived experiences without sacrificing scientific understanding, the sex-based rights and protections that the LGB community relies on, and — most importantly — the long-term health of vulnerable youth.

We hope you’ll join us in fighting the new homophobia.

Sincerely,

All of us at LGB Alliance Canada.