Trans Activism In Canada

Centring the voices and experiences of trans identified people as experts on their own lives and agents of change, Trans Activism in Canada opens up a dialogue between scholars and community members in an effort to improve the lives of sex and gender variant people. The first of its kind, this anthology brings together activists and allies to examine the various strategies and forms of resistance needed to transform oppression into opportunity for change. Reflecting upon the challenges trans communities face and offering insight into achieving institutional reform, the themes addressed range from poverty and isolation to health care and best practices. Using personal narratives, archival material, and qualitative research, as well as case- and community-based research, this text demonstrates the leading role of trans and two-spirit activists in generating social change. By drawing on feminist, anti-racist, and social justice frameworks, the contributors approach oppression and activism as inseparable from hetero-patriarchal, colonialist, and capitalist power relations. Written for trans activists, scholars, and allies, Trans Activism in Canada is poised to enrich transgender theorizing by focusing on concrete experiences and practical knowledge gained from the everyday lives of trans people.

The ArQuives, the largest independent LGBTQ2+ archive in the world, is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and celebrating the stories and histories of LGBTQ2+ people in Canada. Since 1973, volunteers have amassed a vast collection of important artifacts that speak to personal experiences and significant historical moments for Canadian queer communities. Out North: An Archive of Queer Activism and Kinship in Canada is a fascinating exploration and examination of one nation’s queer history and activism, and Canada’s definitive visual guide to LGBTQ2+ movements, struggles, and achievements.

Filling a gap in literature and fulfilling the need for trans-focused work, TransNarratives is an interdisciplinary collection featuring narratives of transgender experiences, providing a sourcebook of a range of trans perspectives, writing styles, and trans methodological fields of applicability. The works included transcend disciplinary boundaries in the pursuit of academic knowledge and creativity, actively deconstructing binaries wherever they begin to appear, whether with regard to gender, race, ability, or sexuality, or to the binary divisions that can sometimes separate academic and creative production. Calling attention to transgender writers, this unique and timely text showcases a wide variety of material, including scholarship from multi- and interdisciplinary transgender perspectives, poetry and fiction that foregrounds trans experience, and first-person transgender narratives. The essays, poems, and stories cover a range of topics relevant to transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary experiences, across time, geographic location, and cultures. An important addition to the field, this groundbreaking text will serve as an essential collection of works for students and researchers in transgender studies, queer studies, and gender studies. FEATURES - Provides accessible, thematically wide-ranging, and stylistically diverse writings, including scholarship from multi- and interdisciplinary transgender perspectives - Includes multi-generational perspectives and non-able-bodied subjectivities - Uniquely formatted to support a dialogue between creative and scholarly work

ABOUT DANCING THE DIALECTICElspeth Brown, PhD, Professor of History at the University of Toronto and Board Member of The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives says: "Rupert Raj is one of trans history's most important figures. His tireless activism in the 1970s and 1980s, in particular, paved the way for generations of activists not only in the U.S. and Canada, but globally as well. Dancing the Dialectic is a beautifully written, first-person account of that activism, joining other classics in the genre-from Emergence to Redefining Realness." "Born around the time that Christine Jorgensen's story made world headlines and retiring at a time when trans people are reaching an emancipation watershed worldwide, Rupert Raj is one of a select few whose life neatly tracks the arc of modern trans history. Weaving those two together, this updated memoir refers to a veritable 'Who's Who' of trans activism across borders and oceans. Dancing the Dialectic is the true 'warts and all' story of a man whose whole adult life has been devoted to advocacy and community support. Highly recommended." says Christine Burnes, MBE, Writer and equalities advocate (UK), Author of Pressing Matters and Editor of Trans Britain "Nearly half a century ago, Rupert Raj was one among the world's first generation of transsexual men taking matters into their own hands. Without any role models, or even a concept of trans masculinity, he delved into the unknown, searching for his personal truth, trusting only on instinct. We own a debt to pioneers like Rupert that nowadays trans men and women around the globe have ways of understanding and finding themselves. His life story is a crucial testimony that deserves to be read." comments Alex Bakker, MA Historian and writer (The Netherlands) and author of My Untrue Past and Transgender in Nederland RUPERT RAJ is a trailblazing, Eurasian-Canadian, trans activist and former psychotherapist, who transitioned from female to male in 1971 as a transsexual teenager. Dancing the Dialectic between gender dysphoria and gender euphoria, cynical despair and realistic hope, righteous rage and loving kindness, this Gender Worker tells us all about his lifelong fight for the rights of transgender intersex and two-spirit people-and his later-life role as a Rainbow Warrior working to free Mother Earth's enslaved animals. He is (co-)editor of Trans Activism in Canada: A Reader, and Of Souls and Roles, Of Sex and Gender: A Treasury of Transsexual, Transgenderist and Transvestic Verse from 1967 to 1991.

"Trans people today are deeply indebted to pioneers like Rupert Raj, who forged a path where none existed and dared to make the world a better place for all." -Brice D. Smith, PhD, author of Lou Sullivan: Daring To Be A Man Among Men RUPERT RAJ is a trailblazing, Eurasian-Canadian, trans activist and ex-psychotherapist, who transitioned from female to male in 1971 as a transsexual teenager. "Dancing the dialectic" between gender dysphoria and gender euphoria, cynical despair and realistic hope, righteous rage and loving kindness, Rupert relates his lifelong fight for the rights of transgender, intersex, and two-spirit people in Canada and the USA since the 1970s. He also portrays his later-life role as an eco-activist and animal liberationist working to free Mother Earth's enslaved farmed animals and expand the circle of compassion, as exemplified by ecofeminism, environmentally-engaged Buddhism, and Native spirituality. Raj's intersectional identity evolves from Dialectical Dancer (existential philosopher/psychologist) to Gender Worker (trans/intersex/two-spirit activist) to Therapeutic Healer & Teacher (psychotherapist/ gender consultant/trainer) to Rainbow Warrior (eco-activist/animal liberationist). He is (co-)editor of Trans Activism in Canada: A Reader and Of Souls & Roles, Of Sex & Gender: A Treasury of Transsexual, Transgenderist &Transvestic Verse from 1967 to 1991.

Canada is considered a leader when it comes to LGBTQ rights, yet this is a fairly recent phenomenon – one that is largely due to the tireless work of disparate groups of LGBTQ activists. Queer Mobilizations examines the relationships between LGBTQ activists and local, provincial, and federal Canadian governments. The contributors explore how various governments have tried to regulate and repress LGBTQ movements, and how, in turn, queer activists have successfully shaped public policy, across the political spectrum, from city halls to Parliament Hill.

A queer minister, politician and staunch activist for LGBTQ rights, Cheri DiNovo went from living on the streets as a teenager to performing the first legalized same-sex marriage registered in Canada in 2001. From rights for queer parents to banning conversion therapy, her story will inspire people (queer or ally) to not only resist the system—but change it. In The Queer Evangelist, Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo (CM) shares her origins as a young socialist activist in the 1960s, and her rise to ordained minister in the ‘90s and New Democratic member of provincial parliament. During her tenure representing Parkdale-High Park in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2006 to 2017, DiNovo passed more LGBTQ bills than anyone in Canadian history. She describes the behind-the-scenes details of major changes to Canadian law, including Toby’s Law: the first Transgender Rights legislation in North America. She also passed bills banning conversion therapy, proclaiming parent equality for LGBTQ parents, and for enshrining Trans Day of Remembrance into Ontario law. Every year on November 20th in the legislature, the provincial government is mandated to observe a minute of silence while Trans murders and suicides are detailed. Interspersed with her political work, DiNovo describes her conversion to religious life with radical intimacy, including her theological work and her ongoing struggle with the Christian Right. Cheri DiNovo's story shows how queer people can be both people of faith and critics of religion, illustrating how one can resist and change repressive systems from within. “Living on the street, using drugs, abandoned by the adults in her life, all while identifying as ‘queer’ in a hostile world—any one of these things could have unravelled many of us. Cheri hauled herself up and not only survived but thrived. I love that this strong, brilliant, competent woman has told her story so honestly.” —Kathleen Wynne, former premier of Ontario

We Still Demand! recovers the vibrant histories of sex and gender activism across Canada from the 1970s to the present. Highlighting queer, trans, sex-worker, and feminist struggles, this activist history focuses on remembering these struggles and on rethinking the boundaries of sex and gender activism and scholarship. By recovering the history of activism and outlining contemporary challenges, We Still Demand! provides a vital rewriting of the history of sex and gender activism in Canada that will enlighten current struggles and activate new forms of resistance.