In Canada, we tend to value freedom of speech very highly, and it's often said that the best way to counter objectionable speech is with more speech.

That's the first thought that crosses my mind in the case of University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, who declares in a series of YouTube videos that he will not honour trans* peoples' chosen pronouns, and opposes trans* human rights protections, all in the name of combating "political correctness."

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One of the sticking points that has arisen from Black Lives Matter Toronto's protest and delay of the march at Toronto Pride has been the participation of police in an institutional capacity, rather than simply as LGBTQ and allied individuals.  It brings to mind an odd experience a few years ago, which taught me a lot about the nature of the interplay between authorities and marginalized, policed communities.

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Seeing the evacuation and devastation from the fires threatening Fort McMurray brings back wrenching memories of displacement from the High River flood in 2013. Our thoughts are with everyone who has evacuated the region.

Everyone's familiar with the old adage, "be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it."

Which is why the Evangelical leaders who held a press conference on Parliament Hill calling for greater religious freedom laws and schmoozing with Conservative politicians last month might do well to remember Indiana.

"Unfortunately, Christians in this country find themselves under attack. This is a violation, and we are calling on the Canadian government to stop this type of violation across this country..." -- Charles McVety

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Canada's trans* human rights bill C-279 was amended by a Senate committee, in a way that makes it legal to ban trans* people from washrooms and gendered spaces appropriate to their gender identity.

On Sunday, December 28, 17-year-old trans* Ohio teenager committed suicide by stepping in front of a tractor-trailer on the interstate. She was killed instantly.

Her tragedy says something profound which has been almost completely missed in the discussion about LGBT-inclusive education and Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) currently wafting across Canada.

There is a simple, time-honoured rule about attempting to "balance" human rights classes in legislation so that it works out a particular way every time, and it goes like this:

You can't.

That is a court's role. When two human rights classes are put into conflict in a way that creates hardships for both, a court becomes the arbiter, weighing the context of a given situation in order to determine which party has experienced the most undue hardship.

Legislating in such a way that one party's rights always supersedes the other creates a hierarchy of rights, and defeats the whole purpose of equal rights legislation.

Bill 10

Whether anybody wanted the conversation right now or not, it's become time to have a conversation about BDSM, gender and entitlement.

Over a week ago, Jian Ghomeshi, the then-popular then-CBC commentator, appeared to be coming out of the closet about engaging in what he referred to as "rough sex (forms of BDSM)," and claimed to have been fired because of workplace discrimination. The post read as sincere and from the heart (and badly timed because of his father's passing), so we wanted to believe him. For anyone who cares about sex and gender minorities, there was a temptation to circle the wagons and voice support. There was a lot of discussion about the human right to one's own sexuality, but then...

"Wait, what was that about allegations...?"

On Tuesday, October 28, Peter LaBarbera re-entered Canada for an immigration hearing, then to speak at an anti-LGBT conference, and finally on Thursday to face charges for mischief (which stem from an arrest while distributing anti-LGBT leaflets at the University of Regina).

LaBarbera (nicknamed "Porno Pete" by bloggers because of his penchant for filming pride parades and gay BDSM events in the name of "research") has returned to Canada at the invitation of Bill "Anal Warts" Whatcott (so nicknamed because of his fondness for distributing graphic depictions of anal cancers and other deliberate shock leaflets).