Lbgt Hr Paper 2020
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LGBTQI2S+ Rights: Climbing the Judicial Steps to Equality, 2020 by the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre ©2020 Mailing Address: 2350 Murray Fraser Hall University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Phone: (403) 220-2505 Fax: (403) 284-0945 Acknowledgments The Alberta Law Foundation The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre is supported by a grant from the Alberta Law Foundation. Board of Directors of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre Doreen Barrie Chair; Michael Wylie, Michael Greene, Anna-Maria Hubert, Patricia Paradis and Ola Malik. Updated by Maddison Canuel, B.SC., [summer law student] Principal Researcher and Writer, First Edition Melissa Luhtanen, J.D. Legal Research Assistant (First ed.) Emma McAuliffe, B.A. (Hons) (Poli. Sci. & Hist) [summer law student] Legal Editors Linda McKay-Panos, B.Ed., J.D., LL.M., Executive Director. Heather Forester, B.Comm., J.D., Human Rights Educator. Project Management Sharnjeet Kaur, B.Ed., Administrator. Linda McKay-Panos, B.Ed., J.D., LL.M., Executive Director. On the internet, the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre's home page is located at: aclrc.com ISBN# 1-896225-70-5 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 5 HISTORY ................................................................................................................................................. 7 HUMAN RIGHTS & SEXUAL ORIENTATION ........................................................................................................... 8 HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER IDENTITY ............................................................................................................ 11 RIGHTS REGARDING CHILDREN ........................................................................................................................ 12 PARENTAL STATUS ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Adopting Your Partner’s Child ............................................................................................................. 12 Government and Agency Adoption ..................................................................................................... 13 Foster Parents ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Trans Parents ...................................................................................................................................... 15 MARRIAGE AND SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIPS ......................................................................................................... 15 HUMAN RIGHTS ................................................................................................................................... 18 Gender Reassignment Surgery ............................................................................................................ 21 Trans Prisoner’s Rights ........................................................................................................................ 23 FAMILY ................................................................................................................................................. 26 MARRIAGE .................................................................................................................................................. 26 REGISTRATION OF BIRTH ................................................................................................................................ 28 HATE CRIMES ....................................................................................................................................... 30 THE CHARTER .............................................................................................................................................. 31 CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA .......................................................................................................................... 33 ALBERTA HUMAN RIGHTS ACT ........................................................................................................................ 36 IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS FOR TRANS PEOPLE ............................................................................... 38 FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION ............................................................................................................................... 38 Passports ............................................................................................................................................. 38 Citizenship Documentation ................................................................................................................. 39 Certificate of Indian Status (aka Indian Status Card) .......................................................................... 40 PROVINCIAL IDENTIFICATION ........................................................................................................................... 40 Birth Certificate ................................................................................................................................... 40 Driver’s License or Alberta Identification Card .................................................................................... 42 PREREQUISITES TO CHANGING IDENTIFICATION ................................................................................................... 43 REFUGEES/IMMIGRANTS ...................................................................................................................... 43 IMMIGRATION RULES .................................................................................................................................... 43 Common-law Partners ........................................................................................................................ 44 Conjugal Relationships ........................................................................................................................ 45 REFUGEES ................................................................................................................................................... 46 LGBTQI2S+ YOUTH ................................................................................................................................ 49 SCHOOL ...................................................................................................................................................... 49 TRANS YOUTH ............................................................................................................................................. 53 CONVERSION THERAPY .................................................................................................................................. 55 INTERSEX YOUTH BODILY AUTONOMY .............................................................................................................. 56 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 58 Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre POTENTIAL LEGAL ISSUES ...................................................................................................................... 60 DEFINITION OF ‘PARENT’ AND NUMBER OF LEGAL PARENTS ................................................................................... 60 CAN MEDICAL TREATMENT BE REFUSED TO TRANS ALBERTANS? .............................................................................. 61 CLEAN UP THE LEGISLATION ............................................................................................................................ 62 REFUGEES PROVING THEIR STATUS IN A HOMOPHOBIC HOME COUNTRY ................................................................... 62 IS THE LIMITATION OF HATE SPEECH A VIOLATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION? ........................................................ 62 PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF TRANS PEOPLE ........................................................................................................ 64 APPENDIX A .......................................................................................................................................... 66 KANE (RE) ................................................................................................................................................... 66 LUND V BOISSOIN ......................................................................................................................................... 67 WHATCOTT V SASKATCHEWAN ........................................................................................................................ 69 2 Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre LGBTQI2S+ Rights: Climbing the judicial steps to equality EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fifty years after Pierre Trudeau decriminalized homosexuality, twenty years after “sexual orientation” was read into the Alberta Human Rights Act (AHRA), and fifteen years after same-sex marriage was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada, heterosexism and cissexism still exist in Canadian law and society. Laws that govern lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, two-spirit, and other (LGBTQI2S+) individuals,