HEINRICHS: Many Canadians can't ignore the bad things in gender ideology

Gerald Heinrichs is a lawyer in Regina, Saskatchewan.It has been two years since Britain’s Tavistock Clinic shut down in disgrace. Over one thousand children, mostly girls, were prescribed hormone therapy drugs and suffered or risked irreversible harm like infertility, fragile bones, and endocrine disruption.The Cass Report investigation found there was "remarkably weak evidence" for these treatments and "no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions.” Kiera Bell was one of the casualties. She stated, "I was an unhappy girl who needed help, instead, I was treated like an experiment."But even worse than places like Tavistock were the surgery clinics. The Economist reports that between 2016 and 2020, over 3,200 so-called gender transition mastectomies were conducted in the US on girls ages 12 to 18.Perhaps just as alarming is that these drug and surgery procedures on children were, not long ago, declared to be “life-saving" and "medically necessary.”Today, however, those opinions sit in ruin. One reason is the 2026 US court case awarding Fox Varian, a double mastectomy casualty, a $2 million malpractice judgment against her psychologist and surgeon. Ms. Varian stated, “It’s so hard to face that you are disfigured for life ... No amount of reconstruction is ever going to bring back what I lost.”The Epoch Times reports that dozens of similar lawsuits against health providers are now underway. These lawsuits represent "A Gathering Storm", reports The Economist.More than 20 US states now prohibit these medical procedures on children, and other jurisdictions are moving in that direction, including Alberta..Whether prompted by the lawsuits or other things, some health authorities have undertaken an overdue re-examination. Presently, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and health authorities in Finland and Sweden have all reversed their previous supportive stance on gender drugs and surgeries for children — a startling about-face. But other organizations refuse to face the music and carry on unchanged. As for Canada, the National Post reported in March that the country is "one of the world's last holdouts on medically transing kids.”But today's gender ideology hasn't just been about the bodies of children. It has also been about their minds. Almost unheard of 10 years ago, gender ideology has become an everyday subject in many of Canada's elementary schools. Among other things, it presents lessons to children on the highly-disputed theory that they might be living in the wrong body. In some cases, these gender teachings are so enthusiastic that they overtake traditional subjects. One publication describes it as, "The Shocking Truth About What is Being Taught in Schools.”Many Canadians say these lessons are radical indoctrination that can cause confusion and anxiety in children. Moreover, stories of secret school gender affirmations and en masse gender conversions are logically troubling to many Canadians. These are some of the reasons why parents and organizations like Canada's Association for Reformed Political Action demand that authorities, "Remove gender education from classroom instruction."Of course, all of this is only one chapter in today's wave of gender ideology. Another chapter turns on the slogan "Transgender women are women.” To some Canadians, this is a bold new truth, but to others it is a dark lie. Unsporting, a 2020 book by Canadians Linda Blade and Barbara Kay, examines biological men competing in women's sports events as transgender persons. The authors claim that "trans activism and science denial are destroying sport.” Over the last decade, there have been many stories of women being displaced from medals and, perhaps even worse, being seriously injured by these newly arrived transgender individuals. A 2024 CBS News story reported that transgender athletes have taken nearly 900 medals in women's competitions. And a sports law expert further documents events, stating, "Trans athletes [are] causing life-altering injuries.”.According to tens of millions of Americans and the UK Supreme Court, all of this is very wrong. In 2025, the British court ruled that the meaning of men and women is "plain and unambiguous" and corresponds to their "biological characteristics.”In 2025, the US government legislated various protections for women. In an early series of laws, the Trump administration not only prohibited men from competing in women's sports but also from being in women's prisons and private spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms.Supporters say these laws are necessary common sense. Gender activists call them an outrage.Censorship is yet another wrong turn with today's gender politics. Rarely do the gender ideologists engage in civilized debates on these important issues. Instead, today's activists respond to legitimate challenges with name-calling like transphobe and hatemonger. Mainstream media like CBC are little better.Moreover, in 2022, Canada's parliament made it a criminal offence to "cause" a person to undergo any kind of "conversion therapy" that might change their gender identity — a drastic law. This is something that the US Supreme Court recently struck down as a violation of freedom of speech. The court stated, "The people lose whenever the government transforms prevailing opinion into enforced conformity."Coming up in June, many Canadian cities will again have days and nights of Pride events. But today, more than ever, there is a cognitive disconnect with those flag-raisings and parades. That is because all the bad things about gender ideology are swept under the carpet and smothered with slogans like identity celebration and love is love.In 2025, Pride events both in Vancouver and Toronto reported sharp declines in sponsorship. The Vancouver Sun reported, "Parade will proceed despite losing nearly half its sponsors." Fewer organizations, it seems, wanted to be associated.Gerald Heinrichs is a lawyer in Regina, Saskatchewan.

HEINRICHS: Many Canadians can't ignore the bad things in gender ideology

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