Susan Gapka, in bad-ass tigerprint. / via PrideToronto

I penned two complimentary stories in Xtra this week. One is on some rather out-of-the-blue news that Passport Canada is mulling gender-neutral passports. The other is a profile on the passage of some historic trans’ rights legislation through the Ontario legislature. Pictured above is Susan Gapka, whose work on advancing the cause won her praise from legislators from all benches (yes, even the Tories.)

The bill - also known as Toby’s Act - has seen the floor of the legislature three times before. It’s named for well-respected trans rights activist Toby Dancer, who died in 2004. This time, for the first time, it appears that it may pass.

That, says trans rights activist Susan Gapka, is “historic.”

The previous incarnations of the bill - introduced by DiNovo in 2007, 2009, 2010 - received first reading in the legislature, and then quietly died on the floor. They received no debate, never made it to committee and were never brought to a vote.

The 2010 version of the bill met a particularly unhappy end at the hands of Ontario’s Attorney General, Liberal Chris Bentley, who said that the protections the bill afforded were already covered under federal law.

This time around, it’s the Liberals and PCs who breathed life into the bill.

“It was three parties … all speaking in favour of extending human rights,” says Gapka, chair of the Trans Lobby Group, who was cited several times by members of all parties for her work on trans rights. She says the love coming from the legislature was “rare.”

Full story.

F35s by Justin_Ling

On moving the goalposts: 

When we first started this whole boondoggle months and months ago - almost a year ago now - the conservation was ‘let’s not buy these jets.’ That was it. It was: 'We don’t need these massive fighter jets, let’s not bother.’

Then it became; 'let’s not sole-source these jets to Lockheed Martin’

Then it became; 'let’s not pay so much for the jets.’

Then it became; 'why are we paying so much for the jets?’

Then it became; 'let’s not pay this much, let’s find another jet that’s interoperatable with our NATO allies.’

The conservation has moved so much from its original point that the Conservatives must be very happy, because they won, in essence. It’s not a matter of whether we’re going to buy the jets, it’s a matter of what jet we’re going to buy - the Cadillac or the Maserati