Dear Mr. Trudeau: Please Protect My Trans Daughter
Dear Prime Minister-designate Trudeau,
My name is Amanda. I'm a writer and mother from the suburbs of Ottawa who hopes you can take five minutes from your busy schedule to hear her out.
I want to introduce you to my amazing daughter, Alexis.
At nearly 13 years old, Alexis is a pretty typical teenager. She's in grade 8, has some good friends, plays drums in the school band, loves Minecraft and can roll her eyes at her mother like it's nobody's business. (Trust me.)
She's the middle child of our family, sandwiched between two "very annoying" brothers named Aerik and Jackson. Despite some of us driving her crazy, we all love her dearly.
Alexis is transgender
. She came out to us nearly 2 years ago, at 11 years old. Since then, she has become a powerful advocate for trans rights, marching, celebrating, protesting and speaking out in the name of raising awareness.
Coming out as trans at such a young age and living her truth makes her the bravest human being I know. Unfortunately, it also means her chances of being discriminated against, assaulted and murdered are now astronomically high.
And we still don't have federal laws in place to protect her
.
I know you realize this. You made transgender rights a part of your platform. It's a big reason why I voted for you.
Alexis knows this, too. She cheered from the sidelines as you marched in the Toronto Pride parade last summer. She listened to the reasons behind my decision to vote for your party. She stayed up late and watched the election results with excitement, then went to sleep, feeling hopeful that our new leader has her back.
Alexis believes in you, so I need you to believe in her. I need your party to draft a new transgender rights bill as soon as possible so it can be passed during your time in office.
As it stands, my only daughter does not have the same basic human rights you and I do.
As it stands, if someone were to threaten, attack or murder her because she's trans, it would not be considered a hate crime. This needs to change. Yesterday.
Raising a transgender child is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. It's also one of the most terrifying.
Knowing there are people who would purposely hurt my daughter? Terrifying.
Fighting so openly for her rights? Terrifying.
Urging the new leader of our country to keep his promises to her community? Way out of my comfort zone, Mr. Trudeau.
But I hold myself accountable to promises, too. And I promised Alexis that I would do whatever needs to be done to make the world safer for her.
So here we are, Canadian to Canadian, parent to parent. I know you would do anything for your children, as I will do anything for mine.
So please, help me keep my promise to Alexis.
Let's protect my child together.