Roundup: Scott Moe’s genital inspectors

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While I haven’t been following the Saskatchewan election too closely, but while on the campaign trial, incumbent Scott Moe promised anti-trans change room policies if re-elected. And I just can’t even.

Set aside for the moment the fact that this is a) the kind of anti-LGBTQ+ scapegoating that comes out of the authoritarian playbook; and b) that Moe has already told on himself with his previous anti-trans legislation whereby he not only pre-emptively invoked the Notwithstanding Clause, but also inoculated himself and his government from being sued for any harm that comes to trans people as a result of these policies, this policy is unenforceable, just like Danielle Smith’s similar pledge to ban trans women from playing sports in women’s and girls’ leagues. Is the plan from either premier that they plan to hire government genital inspectors before someone can enter a change room or play on a sports team? Or do they plan to let vigilantes do it for them and expose already vulnerable trans people to more violence?

And this is the real kicker—this very quickly spirals out from anti-trans panic to all-out assault on women who don’t conform to a preconceived notion of femininity at the hands of these vigilantes. There was a case last summer in BC where someone demanded that a nine-year-old girl who had a short haircut prove that she was actually a girl at a school track meet. This is the kind of harassment that Moe and Smith are promoting—now every girl with short hair, or small breasts, or who is a called a “tomboy” will need to subject herself to ongoing genital inspections to ensure that she’s not trans. And heaven forfend if a child was born intersex and is not easily sorted into this particular system. Is this the world that they actually want? It’s insidious and it solves not a single problem other than the ones in their fevered imaginations. And the fact that Moe thinks this is his Hail Mary pass in an election where he can’t defend his own record speaks volumes about where this kind of anti-trans panic has taken hold among voters on the political right.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched 56 drones and a missile overnight against Mykolaiv in the south, attacking their energy infrastructure. Russia claims that they took the village of Maksymilianivka, but this has not been confirmed. President Zelenskyy told NATO members that their intelligence indicates that as many as 10,000 North Korean troops could be deployed on Russia’s side in the conflict, but no one else could corroborate this.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is planning a new Cabinet shuffle as four more ministers are not running again (but it likely won’t happen until after the US election results).
  • Trudeau put out a statement about the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, calling it an end to a “reign of terror.”
  • CSIS says that while they do have more powers to brief about sensitive information, they still can’t share personal information, or name implicated parliamentarians.
  • The chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations have voted down the $40 billion child welfare agreement with the federal government.
  • An unsealed US indictment shows the charges against a government of India employee being implicated in assassination plots that tie to the Nijjar murder.
  • Conservative MP Michael Chong, who spread conspiracy theories about the Winnipeg Lab and COVID, says Trudeau’s inquiry remarks were “irresponsible.”
  • Jagmeet Singh hit the microphones yesterday to get his own kicks at Poilievre in and his refusal to get a security clearance (but unlike Singh says, the reason is obvious).
  • Doug Ford is planning on sending $200 cheques to everyone in Ontario in the spring in advance of an election. (But healthcare, education and housing are still broken).
  • Danielle Smith insists that her plans to “Uber-ize” continuing care in the province isn’t a reference to privatisation. Really! (Because she can totally be trusted).
  • Eric Mathison debunks the latest hyperventilation about MAiD from AP.
  • Matt Gurney gives Trudeau his props for the revelations in his Foreign Interference inquiry testimony, but then takes a wrong turn in demanding the names.
  • Susan Delacourt worries about the level of toxicity that this week’s foreign interference discourse has descended to.

Odds and ends:

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