Although the event was a relative success, its outcome leaves me most apprehensive. Regretfully, we had to end it early.
A hundred supporters of the transgender community rallied at the Victoria Conference Centre ahead of the annual We Unify conference, to denounce its transphobic speaker lineup.
Everyone should feel included.
Many gender-diverse people keep it in the closet out of fear exposure could get them hurt.
The event was called by 1 Million Voices For Inclusion, a group of activists countering transphobic events such as the 1 Million March For Children last September. I was the lead organiser for this demonstration. I have to admit disappointment over the turnout; while respectable, we expected far more to attend given the degree of engagement we obtained in over a month of campaigning, such as a letter campaign reaching over 2000 hits, the backing of the Victoria Pride Society, extensive media coverage, a rally at City Hall and address to the council, and even the endorsement of two MLAs.
Indeed, BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau wrote a letter to Mayor Alto urging her to reconsider the City of Victoria’s decision to allow the conference to proceed at a public venue. And while Victoria-Beacon Hill MLA Grace Lore had originally declined to intervene in her response to our letter campaign, she released a video clip in support of the rally last night and attended it briefly this morning.
“I believe that the Victoria Conference Centre needs to uphold the inherent rights of all
Canadians to live free from persecution and violence, and that as a city, we must take a strong
stance against hosting those who promote hate in any of its forms. I urge you to consider the
impact this event being hosted by the City of Victoria Conference Centre will have on Victoria’s
2SLGBTQIA+ community, and to please uphold the commitment made in the 2023 Declaration
that was adopted by council.”
While our rally point was by the Douglas Street entrance, it didn’t take long for us protesters to migrate to the atrium, to heckle the conference attendees attempting to sneak behind us via the Empress Hotel entrance. There MJ of the UVic Pride Collective gave an address to the crowd, expressing how love and acceptance matter to trans kids, and on the contrary how hate and prejudice hurts them. They said of the transphobes in conclusion: “I don’t hate you, because the love I feel for trans people will always prevail, and ultimately we know that you can never hate us more than we love each other.”
We had to vacate the area, however, because we were just short of the numbers we needed to hold our ground against Saanich police. Had we been two hundreds instead, we might have been successful in shutting down the event altogether, according to sources listening in on a conversation between police officers who seriously worried about escalation as the factions came into contact.
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