Community activists decry rhetoric used during conversion therapy discussion 

WARNING: This story contains language some readers may find disturbing

When it was posted online that the community wellness committee in Regina would be discussing conversion therapy, Jacq Brasseur was concerned. 

The community activist has written about conversion therapy and worked with survivors in the past, and Brasseur said they knew dangerous discourse may be given a platform. 

"I knew what kinds of people would be bringing dangerous rhetoric to these spaces. And I was disheartened … I knew that we wouldn't be ready for that, unfortunately," Brasseur told CBC.

Cat Haines, a genderqueer trans woman, said she first heard about it on social media and was concerned about the lack of time for the community to prepare. Haines said councillors should have been educated about queer and trans people and allyship in advance. 

"This lack of education, this lack of preparation and this lack of, frankly, skill on the committee to identify this kind of hateful discourse could potentially have been prevented or mitigated at the very least," Haines told CBC.

The committee met virtually on April 14 and April 19. Twenty-four delegations addressed the community. There were certain people that Brasseur and Haines both pointed to when speaking about rhetoric, they were: 

• A woman who described helping youth transition is encouraging them to mutilate and sterilize themselves. 
• The same woman who said people who transition regret their choice.
• A woman who said a ban would stop parents from talking to children about gender and sexuality. 
• A man who used an analogy that his daughter was self-harming herself because her friends were saying it was similar to kids wanting to transition only because their friends were. 
• Councillor Terina Shaw who said she inadvertency compared homosexuality to pedophilia and apologized directly following the meeting. 

"Listening to those discussions go unopposed. It was difficult to stay on the line," Haines said. "This is care that, frankly, has saved my life and for it to be described as mutilation is beyond devastating." 

The discourse was to invoke stereotypes through the excuse of willful ignorance, Haines said.

Brasseur said there was also a lack of evidence-based research and claims were not challenged. 

"For example, we saw a number of delegates refer to something called rapid onset gender dysphoria, which is a phenomenon that was written about by a scholar of the name of Littmann. That study has been debunked by hundreds, if not more scholars who are experts."

Brasseur said people have cherry-picked situations without following the evidence. The Littman article was also redacted by the journal that published it. Brasseur said it's harmful to hear that from a group that has no lived experience as a member of the community. 

"Ignorance was deployed as an alibi," Haines added. "It's critical to understand that transphobic discourse affects people at a personal level, as well as an institutional level. There's direct harm that was caused because of this anti-trans rhetoric."

The anti-trans rhetoric leads to legislation which leads to an attempt to erase trans people from existence, Haines said. Brasseur added this can tangibly be seen with anti-trans legislation being introduced across the United States.  

"The idea that those conversations won't come to Saskatchewan is naive," Brasseur said. "As queer and trans organizers and activists in Saskatchewan, Cat and I both have recognized that discourse and rhetoric over the past number of years, increasing tenfold."

Because of the meeting, Haines,  Brasseur and Fae Johnstone are holding a panel discussion on Thursday as a call to action for members of the community and allies. Brasseur said this is about more than conversion therapy as religion, gender-affirming care and divorce were all brought up. 

"We're seeing people use conversion therapy as a guise or to camouflage a different conversation. And we need to recognize that and we need to challenge that."

Haines said she hopes people take away that as a community, the LGBTQ community in Regina is failing trans people. She said people need to be better allies and check in on their queer and trans friends. 

The proposal to look at the feasibility of a conversion therapy ban in Regina will go before city council on April 28. During it, Brasseur said the Chair — Mayor Sandra Masters — needs to shut down any conversations that are not about conversion therapy. Brasseur said the conversation isn't going to end after the city council meeting. 

"I'm hopeful for a time where people in Regina and across the province will meaningfully protect trans women and see trans women as valuable, important members of our community," Brasseur said. 

 "What we saw at City Council makes me scared for the trans women in my life who I love so much," they said. "I just hope I can stop being scared that the trans women I love are going to die… that my friends and loved ones will be killed."