Canada unveils bill on transgender rights

Canada formally unveiled a bill shielding transgender people from discrimination and hate speech Tuesday, as rights activists worldwide marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

Announced a day earlier by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the legislation adds "gender identity" as a banned grounds for discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act, alongside race, religion, age, sex and sexual orientation.

Coming as a debate rages over transgender rights in the neighboring United States, the bill also adds transgender people to a list of groups protected from hate speech under the criminal code.

Seven attempts to pass similar legislation in Canada have failed over the past decade, most recently in 2013.

But this time the bill is expected to pass easily, enjoying support from opposition parties and the Liberals' majority in the House.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the bill would enshrine the right of Canadians to "identify themselves and to express their gender as they wish while being protected against discrimination and hate."

No Canadian "should be refused a job, disadvantaged in the workplace, be unable to access services, or be the target of harassment and violence because of their gender identity or gender expression," she said at a press conference.

Trudeau earlier issued a statement marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

"Far too many people still face harassment, discrimination, and violence for being who they are," Trudeau said. "This is unacceptable."

- 'Feel much safer' -

Twelve-year-old transgender girl Charlie Rickert, who joined Wilson-Raybould for the announcement, commented: "I feel much safer."

The proposed law, she said, "will improve our future so that we can live a more accepting, a more joyful life in the future."

Wilson-Raybould said the bill would also allow the government to collect data on hate crimes directed at transgender people, and respond accordingly.

The bill "is an acknowledgement of the decades of advocacy on behalf of the trans community to ensure clearly the recognition of gender identity and gender expression and to ensure that human rights are attributed to that community," she said.

A Montreal-based gay rights group honored Trudeau on Monday for promoting homosexual rights, which include allowing sexually active gay men to donate blood, and pardoning gay men who were convicted of gross indecency before homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969.

In July Trudeau will also become the first sitting Canadian prime minister to participate in a gay pride parade.

South of the border, a civil rights debate has been raging over a flurry of initiatives targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities since the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last year.

The US federal government and the governor North Carolina launched dueling lawsuits over a state law restricting transgender people's use of public restrooms last week.

The North Carolina law, passed on March 23, requires transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate.

In Canada, critics of the North Carolina law say it is unnecessary and largely symbolic.

Canadian courts have already extended protections to transgender people.