00:21:53.600You know, we see this hate rising. We see protests at drag events. Families are scared for their kids. Governments are trying to restrict people's access to health care. This is our time to organize. And that's exactly why we're so excited to have the Drag the Vote campaign, powered by kick-ass drag artists from coast to coast to coast.
00:22:12.280Carla, you're based in Alberta, where trans health care is under heavy attack. What have you heard from the community in Alberta these days?0.55
00:22:22.320I mean, there's a lot of fear, obviously. Last year, when the governor of Alberta passed three
00:22:28.280bills targeting trans rights and rolling them back, you know, a lot of Albertans had to have
00:22:33.840a conversation of where's our line? I know I did, where we had to like literally sit down with our
00:22:38.100loved ones and say, at what point do we leave this place? At what point is it unsafe? Is it
00:22:42.980impossible for us to live a trans life here? And that's really what's happening because of these.1.00
00:22:48.560We're seeing increased rates of suicidality. Members of our community are no longer with us
00:22:53.200because they didn't see a future anymore. And that was that blood is on Daniel Smith's hands
00:22:56.940that she's directly responsible for increased rates of harm in this community. And then there's
00:23:02.280just like the patronizing tone that she used, where she's like, if anyone says that we're not
00:23:06.840helping you, they're wrong. It's like, I mean, the old school conservatives at least let us
00:23:11.600be upset right now people are pumped to get out the vote they are pumped to uh try to make change
00:23:19.200we understand it's going to be a pretty hard road to go in alberta uh you know but our goal is to
00:23:25.500break the blue wave to really show that the province has changed a lot edmonton's changed
00:23:30.600a lot calgary has changed a lot other major cities have and there's more like very substantial
00:23:36.320progressive candidates we have trans candidates on the ballot in calgary um we have people who
00:23:41.420not your usual candidates and are getting a lot of grassroots support of people who are no longer
00:23:47.200happy with the old boys club um that the progressive conservative ucp conservative party i don't know
00:23:55.000they can't even change they can't even stick with one name for a while um maple mega whatever
00:23:59.900they're calling themselves and yet they're trying to control other people's names it just it's a bit
00:24:04.340hypocritical if you can't even stick with a party name listen if jeff from calgary can go by pierre
00:24:10.720polyev um maybe he can learn our names too i i think also people are really like it's it's kind
00:24:18.060of a weird election because we actually have a have like a realistic view of what would happen
00:24:23.300if we choose one or the other with looking at what's happening in the states and knowing how
00:24:28.720much daniel smith is in their pocket advocating for polyev to be aligned with what they're doing
00:24:34.860like we know this is what was it will come here and we can see how disastrous it's been in the
00:24:41.520United States so there's kind of like a weird like crystal ball like this is what you're voting for
00:24:47.180we can see what will happen yeah which hopefully makes a difference right and people actually heed
00:24:52.900those warnings um you know and one thing that is so important in that context right is just the
00:24:58.740information ecosystem and like what people are seeing out there and Faye I know that the gender
00:25:04.080diverse community is constantly facing false framings from bad faith people who have huge
00:25:09.460platforms you've personally felt this when you were doing the her for she campaign for example
00:25:14.420and lots of other times too but that was like a really big moment right um for hershey's chocolate
00:25:19.240how do we push back against people who just won't stop lying about the gender diverse community
00:25:27.300you know i think first and foremost we call out their lies for what they are their attempts to
00:25:31.860turn us against our neighbors and they're an excuse to actually roll back you know human
00:25:35.940rights protections that keep all of us safe they're an attempt to put a politician in your
00:25:39.860family doctor's office do you really want like premier danielle smith to pop over your shoulder
00:25:44.940and say actually nah you're not allowed access to that health care because i don't think it's
00:25:48.840the right kind and so i think there's a whole piece here where we we expose the lies and we
00:25:54.720expose the agenda underneath a lot of this which is really to roll canada back you know 50 or 60
00:26:00.460years. And that's a threat to families, to minorities of all sorts. That's a threat to
00:26:05.440the healthcare system that we all trust. But I think that the second piece is by having,
00:26:10.500like, telling our own stories. You know, I hear from moms and dads and parents all the time who
00:26:16.300are worried for their trans kids. I hear from trans young folks who, you know, they're not,
00:26:21.460you know, activists. They're just humans who want to live their lives. And if we can tell those
00:26:26.400stories and help people understand that this is your factory worker, your farmer, your teacher,0.98
00:26:32.020your nurse, and their families, I think that that can cut through some of the bullshit that Pierre0.95
00:26:37.380Polyev and the conservative misinformation machine is putting into our ecosystem. Carla, I did want0.97
00:26:42.580to ask you too, I mean, you were talking about the way that candidates are looking a bit different
00:26:48.720in this election and I wanted to know what you want to see from the politicians that we are
00:26:56.380watching in this election campaign what are you going to be watching for especially from the
00:27:00.340leaders um well I'm looking for I mean what I probably won't see and that is an outright0.88
00:27:07.060statement in support of trans rights um I would love to see like a progressive hubris0.61
00:27:14.420that I don't know why our side is always concerned about bipartisanship and and like coddling the
00:27:24.040feelings of like conservatives that are trolling in racism and ableism and islamophobia and xenophobia
00:27:33.400and we pretend like these are legitimate worldviews that we're like well we gotta
00:27:37.760consider what they're saying no let's call out what it is we all see this and I would love to
00:27:43.740see people say, this person is wrong. These are not our values. Like, just openly condemn this
00:27:50.120for what it is. Pierre Polly hates queer people. Why can't we say this? This man has openly declared0.98
00:27:56.860war on trans people by saying there's only two genders, they're not immutable, all these kinds
00:28:01.120of things. Why are we not calling it out? He is a transphobic hate mongerer. This is ridiculous
00:28:07.360that we're not calling this out. And that, like, progressive candidates consistently are like,
00:28:12.160well, we got to work together and find a common point. We don't need to build bridges to baby
00:28:19.140Nazis who are too afraid to even say what they're actually doing. Like they're loophole in us. You
00:28:24.480know, we banned the word Nazi. So they're like, okay, I'll just do Nazi things, but I won't call
00:28:29.120it Nazis. Yeah. Well, when the closest political lineup is that like, Jesus, what are we doing
00:28:36.220here yeah i'm just waving i'm not doing a sick hile right like sure you know what like it's like
00:28:42.760we're all being gaslit yeah like they're gaslighting us to the gas chamber what is happening
00:28:48.600here but you know what i mean they're advocating for my extermination but because they won't say it
00:28:53.620then we can't call it out because they didn't say the magic word that's just what they're doing
00:28:59.000and it's it's absurd to me and i really wish that we would get like an unapologetic progressive
00:29:07.140candidate that would say this is what we're doing and if you don't like it i don't care
00:29:12.120get on board this is we we have all the science we have all the evidence we know that this is the
00:29:17.200way that people should start living their lives that these are the rights and that we shouldn't
00:29:20.660try these are the policies that will serve the most number of people trickle down economics is a
00:29:25.060is a fantasy you know like what are we doing that we're pretending like these are legitimate things
00:29:31.220anymore yeah you know i'm glad you brought up what peer polyev said as well and sort of i
00:29:36.420i was gonna ask and i still am gonna ask um i'll direct this at fey because carla i think i got
00:29:41.620your take on polyev loud and clear and i think we need to see we've got to give a little more credit
00:29:48.660why don't we hear him out we can do a little compromise on people's humanity do i sound like
00:29:54.100get some human rights as a treat yeah exactly like come on people um so fey i did want to ask
00:30:00.880you about this thing that like you know pierre polyev went on tv and said that he was only aware
00:30:06.620of two genders which like he's a career politician he's been hearing the acronym that like has all of
00:30:12.980these different genders for years there is no way that he has managed to go through life even though
00:30:18.520he probably doesn't have a lot of queer people in his like friend circle without knowing that these
00:30:23.780that multiple genders exist, right? So it's so obtuse, and it's just one of many dangerous1.00
00:30:30.200things that he's said about the community. I wanted to ask you what a Polly Ave crime
00:30:34.900ministership would mean for trans folks in Canada. I think one of the scary things is he hasn't
00:30:38.940answered that question. You know, he uses these dog whistles and these divisive slogans, but he
00:30:43.420hasn't actually given us policy responses. And so I'm worried that we'll see, you know, the gutting
00:30:48.120of Women and Gender Equality Canada cuts to feminists and women-serving organizations across
00:30:52.920the country but also to local queer and trans services you know when a gay kid is kicked out
00:30:57.720of their home there are local organizations that keep that kid alive that help that kid get housed
00:31:02.920and you know live the best life possible i'm worried that his agenda of like anti-woke and
00:31:08.120you know we need to cut cut cut is going to lead to the jeopardization of those critical services
00:31:13.480i'm worried that we'll see the repeal of our trans rights legislation of canada's conversion
00:31:18.200therapy ban and similar to what we're already seeing in alberta and to what we're seeing in
00:31:23.320america we'll see assaults on our health care we'll see assaults on the ability of trans people
00:31:28.040to just participate in public life you know these conservatives talk about freedom and then they want
00:31:32.600to legislate us out of existence they want to say no you don't get to have the right id on your
00:31:36.920gender marker on your passport it doesn't hurt anybody for us to be able to live our lives be
00:31:41.720recognized by our governments it actually facilitates our freedom and so i guess underneath
00:31:46.600all of this is a worry about the hypocrisy that is Pierre Polyev's agenda and that through this
00:31:52.600culture of anger and rage and rage farming um we'll see the normalization of hate that literally
00:31:59.240leads to trans people being hate crime to trans kids getting shoved into lockers and to families
00:32:04.920having to flee certain parts of this country in order to live their lives in a safe community
00:32:10.120the stakes could not be higher right um carla i i i'm sure you also saw that mark carney decided to
00:32:18.440um that women and gender equality canada no longer needed its own minister right um which it had
00:32:24.840until the recent cabinet shuffle he did incorporate it into another department but i was wondering how
00:32:31.400you felt when you saw that the liberal candidate made this move yeah you know i think is great
00:32:36.440because i think women and genders have just had too much it's you know yeah i i'll i'll ask the
00:32:43.560hard question where's the department of men let's do it you know let's just and now you've said it0.99
00:32:50.440yeah like i'll you know what why don't we just call it the department of dick0.95
00:32:55.320and just gender that too because um no i i think it's it shows the the problems with0.75
00:33:02.600where we're at and that is that the liberal candidate is probably the strongest
00:33:09.400chance to block polyev and so for me uh i always liken voting to taking a bus rather than an uber
00:33:18.480like you take the bus it's getting as close as you can to to where you're at you're not gonna
00:33:24.460probably you're gonna probably have to walk a little bit to actually get to where it makes
00:33:27.740sense um and while the NDP in ways like looks attractive that way um I don't know if the bus
00:33:36.240is gonna make it the bus is heading really close to my house but it's missing like a wheel or two
00:33:44.000you know I don't really have a lot of vision like I don't see a lot of possibility of an NDP
00:33:52.340victory. And I think that the worst case scenario for voting the NDP is that they vote split and
00:33:58.400we end up with the conservatives. And whilst I'm very like, you know, if we had proportional
00:34:04.540representation, I probably would vote for the NDP. But right now with like my rights literally
00:34:10.520be on the ballot box, I don't have the luxury of losing and it working out because what if it
00:34:15.960doesn't and and we split a progressive vote in this way i i'm really worried about that and
00:34:22.960i don't know like we xed out justin trudeau because i don't know if people got sick of
00:34:29.300having hot prime minister daddy and they just like forgot about that um i don't know if like
00:34:35.700the magic law canada ugly again i i'm telling you if that guy took three more shirtless selfies
00:34:41.240he'd still be prime minister mark my words oh my god that's great yeah and so we ended up with
00:34:48.740carny who like let's be very clear is a neo-liberal sense like he's a banker he's gonna austerity the
00:34:57.000shit out of us like these are kind of honestly the choices that we have right now or do we pick
00:35:02.480the guy who doesn't know that there's more than two genders of course he does he knows of course0.99
00:35:09.200he's he reminds me of all the like I'm getting all these conservative MLAs in my DMs right now
00:35:14.920being like you know that secretly I support gay rights you know that secretly I'm on your side
00:35:19.640oh yeah there's like six or seven UCB MLAs right now who are going around on this like
00:35:24.420undercover PR campaign to say that they're really actually like pro-queer but they just can't say
00:35:29.940anything they all do this they do this every time that they're like threatened and they think that
00:35:35.660maybe the party's going down and suddenly they start like scurrying around be like you know i'm
00:35:39.600not like this right wow that's so craven like but i think like even like if i look at the federal
00:35:47.660conservatives right like all of the red tories have gotten quiet lately right and so it is like
00:35:53.200they're there but they're happy you know in alberta there's enough controversy around premier
00:35:58.200smith's government that i think there's some folks like you know doing the whisper campaign i'm like
00:36:02.640i'm not like those conservatives but because polyev has been up in the polls until recently
00:36:08.400we've seen everyone like fall in line behind the leader and the most disgusting thing is like
00:36:13.860watching you know some folks like michelle rempel or even you know melissa lanceman who
00:36:18.800was talking about how like the conservatives need to stop being homophobes and now defending the
00:36:23.920leader and allowing an agenda through that leader that is actually not just bad for trans folks but
00:36:30.900bad for queer folks bad for women and their inability to you know choose you know any kind0.52
00:36:37.600of like principles or values over power really just exposes who they are as politicians and as
00:36:43.560people obviously really terrifying stuff has been happening to the rights of gender diverse folks
00:36:48.420in recent years and i wanted to ask if you could tell the people listening to this podcast how you
00:36:54.460feel as you move through the world living as your authentic selves in the face of this rising tide
00:37:01.680of hate how do you navigate that you know i think back to how i felt in like 2013 as like a you know
00:37:08.92018 year old queer person and like the hope and optimism that that was in the air this belief that
00:37:14.900you know we were heading towards a future uh where i wouldn't have to do this work where i could just
00:37:18.860like buy a gay bar, hang out, or maybe a cafe, make cool sandwiches all the time, or like fancy
00:37:24.900mocktails and cocktails. And now I think about today. I think about the climate that trans people
00:37:31.620already live in, which is one where, you know, we're harassed, we are misgendered, we're mistreated.
00:37:38.040Everyday life is hard for everybody today. You know, costs are going up, the dream of buying a
00:37:44.340home is further away. And then you take all of that and you add on politicians who are punching
00:37:49.320down on your community. You worry every day about the headline, like what's the hate crime going to
00:37:54.420be? Are we going to see like a violent assault as CSIS was warned about? Like that climate is
00:38:00.840terrifying and it's debilitating. I would even say it's like a psychological warfare strategy
00:38:06.620of our opposition to make us so full of doom and gloom and depression that we take ourselves out0.99
00:38:13.800of public life out of society and so like you know my hot my vibes are oh god oh fuck i hate this0.98
00:38:21.480this isn't the future or the canada that i want to live in the flip side to that is boy have they0.99
00:38:27.820tried this shit time and time again we've come for them and we've won and so i do have like a nugget0.91
00:38:32.860in me that is trying to stay optimistic and that's remembering that you know no one thought we would0.99
00:38:39.820get through the AIDS crisis. No one thought that we would have marriage equality. No one thought
00:38:44.640that we would live in a Canada where we have trans people running for public office. And so
00:38:49.500they want us scared, but instead we're going to be organized. We're going to take our truth to
00:38:53.720the people and we're going to kick these bigots out of office. That's awesome, Fair. You make me
00:39:00.160feel so inspired every time I talk to you. It's just like, this is, I think Carla and I have done
00:39:03.880like a doom and gloom like i i do the hope of optimism she does the like it's nazism and it's0.98
00:39:09.900it's honestly the perfect balance um so carla do you want to share or it's totally up to you
00:39:17.300if you're comfortable yeah um you can kind of emblemize my approach by two things that i bought
00:39:23.960recently one is like fun crop tops for summer and the other are security cameras for my house
00:39:30.460Um, where, you know, like, you can't stop living for joy, you can't fall into despair,
00:39:36.160and when the world seems really dark and scary, chances are you've been online too much.
00:39:40.420And when you get offline, when you go into the real world, when you go to a show, when you go to just a bar,
00:39:45.700no one cares. Like, really no one cares.
00:39:49.140We're talking about a small group of serially online people and an army of bots that make it seem like0.98
00:39:56.540we're not that important we're not that numerous we're not that we're not a big deal we're tiny0.97
00:40:02.220and they're whipping up a passion but when you get offline it actually fades really simply into
00:40:08.020just the fact that most people either don't care about trans people or they are supportive
00:40:12.620and that between those two demographics that's like 90 95 of people and that's important to
00:40:19.240remember is that there's so much love around us there's so much community around us there's so
00:40:23.500many things that people want to know and understand and accept us and when I started this journey like
00:40:29.620most people just were like I have no idea what that means and now they regurgitate Fox News
00:40:34.960talking points and so whenever I get frustrated whenever I feel dark and despair I use that to0.60
00:40:40.660light a fire under my ass to get out there and keep advocating for this community because when0.67
00:40:45.360you get into spaces that aren't maybe as safe maybe are a little uncomfortable that's where we0.99
00:40:50.220can really start doing the work. And it's that work that we have to do. And I think that a lot
00:40:54.980of us possibly got a little complacent, a little like, well, this pendulum of progress is swinging,
00:41:02.700we're getting more rights, things are going to just kind of move along, and we don't really have
00:41:06.480to do too much, it'll just happen. And obviously, that's false. Obviously, we do have to be not just
00:41:12.000community members, we have to be citizens, we have to be citizens in our state in our democracy. And
00:41:16.300that means being active, that means taking on the responsibility of making informed decisions.
00:41:20.220and making community-minded decisions. We're not rugged individuals. We are members of a
00:41:25.380society and a community. We have to act with those principles in mind. And that means
00:41:30.140intersectionality. That means radical empathy. That means taking on someone else's struggles
00:41:34.740as yours. And just because I don't have certain struggles, I know that those are just as valid
00:41:40.520and just as worthy of my attention as mine are for you. And if we all work together and share,
00:41:45.260like literally we can move mountains and we can do this. And so I guess that's kind of how I look
00:41:49.740at this also like i'm from alberta they've been after us for so goddamn long like we've we've
00:41:55.500never really had the like well everybody loves us because we know like if you go just like outside
00:41:59.840of a major city or even to like certain suburbs girl you're in danger like we all we you know
00:42:07.460it's one of the reasons why prairie queer communities are so fierce is because we literally
00:42:13.320do have to protect each other all of us have stories of being attacked physically even in
00:42:18.520the golden era we're like when was that because the girl walked around the corner and she got
00:42:23.060slugged in the face and someone yelled it at her you know like these things happen all the time
00:42:29.400and we have you kind of have to make a choice out on the prairies either you're going to let that
00:42:36.380pull you away from society or you're going to plant your feet and say hell no and i gotta i
00:42:43.060have a tattoo that says dbd which is death before detransition and that is 100 the vibe out here0.98
00:42:48.040of like you're never going to take you're never going to take it out of our hands
00:42:51.320they can only make it harder to be trans they can never stop you from being trans
00:42:56.120non-binary two-spirit and i always think that we need to remember that we're talking about
00:43:01.340trans debate that it's not just about trans people that this is a wider community we always
00:43:05.600have to remember our two-spirit community members and our non-binary community members and that we
00:43:10.200are advocating for all of those as well and if i can just like i think to me you know carla and i
00:43:15.140are like two of the trans folks like on stages and in communities all across canada and like
00:43:21.240when i go and chat with like workers and like dock workers and fisher fisher fishers in newfoundland0.82
00:43:28.300and pei like they're into this uh when i go to a dive bar in the middle of nowhere they're not like0.99
00:43:33.940you know ramped up trying to like punch out the tranny in the room they're they don't get it they0.94
00:43:39.160don't understand but they just like want to coexist so i like to remember that like canadians0.99
00:43:44.340as carla said like canadians don't want this canadians believe in freedom they believe in
00:43:48.380human in human rights they believe in equality and while like you know the bad guys are using
00:43:53.100these slogans to scare people and to put us against each other like i actually do have a0.85
00:43:58.240fundamental belief that this is not shit canadians want anything to do with i miss conservatives i i0.94
00:44:06.600you know because i don't think what we're dealing with is the old like it's not the old school0.97
00:44:11.000conservatives totally because those folks could be kind of reasoned with obviously they perpetuated
00:44:16.780a system of injustice that didn't help a lot of people but they could at least sometimes work
00:44:23.100towards i mean if you look at some of the progress that happened under conservative premiers and
00:44:27.200presidents and things like that like sometimes they did things that weren't evil but now i feel
00:44:33.420like there's a division between like old conservatives and just right-wing radicals
00:44:38.800And I don't have an issue with like conservatives. I have an issue with homophobes. I have an issue with racists. I have an issue with misogynists. I have an issue with people who mock people with disabilities. And if we can, like, I don't want to vilify someone just because they vote for something. I want them to be aware of what they're voting for. And if those are not their values, then get the heck out of there.
00:44:59.540yeah well that's the thing right like we saw even just a few years ago conservative mps there were
00:45:06.460people out there like michelle rempel garner who was advocating for freedom and poppers she wanted
00:45:12.160the gays to have their party totally you know so yeah so i think that that's it's something i
00:45:17.920struggle with because like i i'm not gonna debate whether you know trans rights are human rights
00:45:24.360we're not gonna like both sides that issue and then you get excused of being partisan but that's
00:45:29.140just such as hell because it's not a cons it shouldn't be a conservative ideology and i don't
00:45:34.000think it is like a classic conservative ideology to hate trans people it's a tool that's being used
00:45:40.840by politicians and that is disgusting and right now it's being used by conservative politicians
00:45:46.840and i think it's because of anger you know and i think that's what we miss is that we're looking
00:45:51.340and like saying well why are these why are these new right-wing movements gaining power well because
00:45:58.340they're tapping into an angry population. And that population is angry because of those economic
00:46:03.700promises that have not come true. And that is because of neoliberalism, because we have systems
00:46:08.980that are benefiting the wealthy, that are benefiting corporations over people. And that
00:46:13.040has created a lot of disaffected people. And then they're taking that anger that I think is very
00:46:18.820legitimate, and they're pulling it into these weird culture wars, when what we really need to
00:46:24.060be saying is actually you should be really mad at like oil corporations not paying royalties and
00:46:30.280not cleaning up oil wells in alberta or whatever it is you do in ontario i don't know ontario's
00:46:36.500they got a lot i think it is like like the hypocrisy is one thing that i think is really
00:46:43.260like powerful to point out right like pierre paulia for a long time his slogan was freedom
00:46:48.140and like get the government out of our lives and now he's supporting policies that again put a
00:46:53.720politician in your family doctor's office and tell trans kids they can't be themselves so i think a
00:46:58.960lot of this really is you know it's an agenda that is so based in that rage farming and the far right0.98
00:47:06.620has created this idea that we're shoving the gay down people's throats i'm sorry honey but like a
00:47:11.400pride flag doesn't hurt you an ex on a passport doesn't take anything away from you you're allowed0.89
00:47:17.080to be you know a social conservative with your trad wife and your incel in the basement like
00:47:22.800let's get them that dating platform and they'll have a good time but don't take away my freedom
00:47:27.680don't take away the freedom of a parent to get their kids health care you cross those lines and
00:47:33.000you're not a traditional conservative anymore you're a hate monger who wants to control people
00:47:37.880and use the government to do it totally and i i did want to ask you because you know carla mentioned
00:47:43.160earlier about how you guys are like a very small portion of the population right so probably a lot
00:47:48.740of the people listening to this are gonna be cis and are going to maybe they don't even know like
00:47:55.320or have a ton of trans people that they at least realize that they encounter in their regular life
00:47:59.960right so I wanted to ask you how can we be the best allies possible to you right now um I don't
00:48:06.460know uh Faye do you want to go first with that one yeah I think you know for a long time we said1.00
00:48:12.240you have to like you know spotlight on the person who's impacted right like put the transes on tv0.85
00:48:16.960do the thing. And I think there's a piece of that that is still true. We need to center trans voices0.98
00:48:21.680in this. But I need the dads to get angry for their kids right now. I need the moms to speak
00:48:26.500up. And I need them to chat with other parents. My biggest message is I don't need every straight
00:48:32.280person to know what the term like demigender means. I don't care. You don't need to be an
00:48:36.860expert on the gays and our neo pronouns or on puberty blockers. You need to be able to have
00:48:41.320a conversation around what's really at stake. And that is freedom. That is a country where we respect
00:48:46.080our neighbors even if their lives look different from ours and where we invest in the public
00:48:50.480services and institutions that lift everybody up so have that conversation and have it everywhere
00:48:57.040you go because that's how we respond in a poisoned political environment it's by bringing humanity
00:49:02.400and shared values back into the conversation and again exposing these hate mongers and all of their
00:49:07.520lies for the insidious icky bad disgusting agenda that they are pushing totally carla what do you
00:49:14.560you think how can we be good allies um fay knows exactly what i'm about to say because i say this0.97
00:49:20.300every time i get asked and that is ruin christmas dinner hell yeah just ruin it i don't get invited
00:49:26.760to anything anymore it's great um when you when you're sitting at the christmas table when you're
00:49:31.540sitting at the family gathering whatever it is easter's around the corner whatever it is when
00:49:35.440all the family gets together drunkal gary is gonna say something and it's gonna be really
00:49:40.880really everyone's gonna go and kind of change the topic or move along and everyone's gonna
00:49:47.380kind of pretend like we didn't just hear that but we did and what I need allies to do is call it out
00:49:53.240because I always say too that people sometimes need to hear it from voices that sound like theirs
00:49:58.740and I think that if you're a 56 year old white suburban mom and you're talking to another group
00:50:07.340of people like that at the hockey rink, they're going to listen to you. They're going to see me
00:50:11.000coming. They're going to see Faye coming. They get us. They know what we are. And they're going
00:50:14.780to get into like that professional, polite, the walls come up, the boundaries come up. This is an
00:50:19.640outsider. I could get judged. But when it sounds like them, when it's somebody saying, no, like I
00:50:25.820have a trans nephew, it's not like that. That's not what these people are doing. They're fine.0.64
00:50:30.440That you can be an advocate for just basic humanity. And when people are like, well, what
00:50:36.540should we do to solve the trans? We don't need to be having a trans debate. We don't need to0.92
00:50:42.580be talking about trans people. We had all of this sorted out. And it was real easy. It was leave it1.00
00:50:48.180to doctors, leave it to parents, leave it to trans people themselves. And there was no problem. This0.96
00:50:54.340is a manufactured crisis. And it's important to remember that this can all go away. If literally
00:51:01.040one side of politicians just stops talking about it it's that easy
00:51:05.300well guys I think that that's basically everything I had planned to ask you um before I wrap things
00:51:13.660up I want two things from you one if there's anything that we didn't touch on that you want
00:51:19.160to I just want to like give you the floor and two yeah okay excellent and then also I want you to
00:51:26.240tell everyone where they can find you how they can keep up with you how they can follow you on
00:51:30.160socials and stuff, wherever you want to direct them. So, Faye, you seem raring to go, so I'll
00:51:36.420throw it to you. I guess, like, the thing that I want us to remember is that, like, the way that
00:51:42.180we win is not, like, hot takes on Instagram. It is organizing in our neighborhoods. We have the
00:51:48.160Drag the Vote campaign and the Vote Rainbow Equality campaign, and we're getting folks
00:51:51.880across this country distributing flyers, chatting with their neighbors, and building a movement so0.69
00:51:56.820whoever the hell forms government next, we can bring political pressure to bear and make homophobia
00:52:02.460and transphobia politically poisonous. That is how we get through this shit, is by building the power1.00
00:52:07.480of our movement. And so if you're a gay, a they, or an ally who's watching this thing, just go to1.00
00:52:12.940dragthevote.ca, add your name, tap in, and let's make, you know, homophobes scared again. Let's0.94
00:52:19.500make politicians who work around with our rights worried for their ability to get re-elected,
00:52:24.980Because that's the kind of Canada that I know and love.
00:52:27.700And that's the Canada that I'm in this fight for.
00:52:36.640So if you are listening in Calgary, we're doing a Trans Day of Visibility March rally and celebration
00:52:43.780down at the Municipal Plaza or City Hall from 2 to 4 on Sunday the 30th.
00:52:49.220We're also going to be raising the trans flag up really high so you can't pull it down.
00:52:54.620And the Calgary Tower is going to be lit up in trans colors as well on Sunday.0.99
00:52:59.420So if you're there, we'd love to have you come on down.
00:53:02.360Also, there's going to be a Drag the Vote drag show and information session happening at Dickens Pub on April 27th, just before the election.
00:53:11.580So we'd love to see you come on down there as well.
00:53:14.240It's going to be a really big drag show.
00:53:15.600We're going to try to have voter registration information there and party information.