In British Columbia, Censorship Wears a Pronoun Pin

Lin Robinson-Young , an anti-transgender activist in Victoria , B.C. , posted to a Facebook group called Victoria BC Protests (Activism & Demonstrations ) denouncing the local Royal Canadian Legion hall for hosting a group of women that I’d helped bring together for a speaking tour.

She says her group, Vancouver Island Speaks, stands for the propositions that biology is real; that women deserve the right to establish protected spaces that are free of men (no matter what pronouns they care to use) The Legion hall’s Branch Manger responded to this criticism with self-abasing language.

Meghan Murphy says she's had to wage the same fight at venues all across Canada .

Murphy : The idea that we fool venues into renting space to us by masking our message or identity is absurd.

Murphy says each city we travel to has its own corps of activists eager to shut women up.

Murphy 's group had to scramble for replacement spaces after losing original venue on all five occasions.

At a Legion hall in Victoria , the management threw us under the bus with a statement that read, “we stand for inclusivity and respect for all individuals We recently became aware of an event that does not align with these values. As a result, we have decided to cancel the booking.” The idea that managers had suddenly “become aware” of new information was nonsensical, given that we’d already held a successful event at that same location a few months earlier . Supportive venue staff had been in attendance, and had even encouraged us to book with them again..