#Wisdom2Action

[coochiequeens]

A Canadian college invited a trans-identified male to speak on violence against women in observation of the 33rd anniversary of an act of mass femicide.

Fae Johnstone, a trans-identified male, gave a keynote address today at Durham College in North Oshawa, Ontario as part of the school’s National Day of Remembrance Ceremony marking the anniversary of a massacre that left 14 women dead.

Johnstone, who describes himself as “trans feminine and non-binary,” is the Executive Director at Wisdom2Action, an LGBT-focused consulting firm. Johnstone’s website lists him as a “public speaker, consultant, educator and community organizer on unceded, unsurrended Algonquin territory.”

On Twitter, Johnstone announced his speech was part of the school’s “16 Days of Activism” to end “GBV [gender-based violence].”

The event Johnstone spoke at today is described on the Durham College website as commemorating the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada.

The Day was first inaugurated by Parliament in 1991 as a way to honor the lives lost during the École Polytechnique massacre, which took place on December 6, 1989 in Montreal, Quebec. On the campus of the scientific university, a man identifying as an “anti-feminist” targeted female students for slaughter. 

Prior to shooting all of the women in a mechanical engineering class, Marc Lépine, born Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi, told the male students to leave the room. He then told the women he was “fighting feminism” and expressed a hatred of women’s rights to an education.

“You’re women, you’re going to be engineers. You’re all a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists,” Lépine said, before opening fire on the female students. Lépine later committed suicide on the campus after taking 14 women’s lives, and injuring 10 more people.

In total, Lépine murdered 14 women in an act that has since been recognized an act of terrorism.

After his speech at Durham College tonight, Johnstone was confronted by Jennifer Anne, a Canadian women’s rights advocate who has been working to secure the release of the analysis that was done on gender self-identification legislation in Canada. 

Anne attended the event and recorded some of Johnstone’s address before proposing a question when given the opportunity by the event’s host. 

“Today is the day we mark 14 women who were killed in Montreal by a man who subjected them simply because they were female. It is sex-based violence, not gender based violence. I am a female,” Anne is heard saying, before listing off examples where self-identification lead to the victimization of women.

“I am wondering why, on this day, we would have a man dressed in women’s garb to talk to us about sex-based violence and keeping women safe? How can women stay safe in this environment?”

Johnstone replies curtly: “Thank you. Next question!”

“Really? So you’re not going to answer it because you know I’m right?” Anne responds. The host of the event, as well as other administrators, are then heard trying to discourage Anne from continuing to assert her question.

Anne uploaded the recordings to her Twitter account.

Johnstone’s consulting firm, Wisdom2Action, marked the anniversary of the women’s deaths by posting an infographic titled “Queering GBV,” which asserted that “gender based violence disproportionately impacts 2SLGBTQ+ people who are BIPOC, transfeminine, bisexual, youth, newcomers, disabled, homeless, and/or involved in sex work.”

For Canadian Women’s History Month in October, Johnstone was “honored” by a Government ministry for his work with “2SLGBTQI+” people.

Johnstone had previously slammed the Canadian Femicide Observatory for “retweeting TERF and TERF rhetoric.” TERF is a derogatory term most frequently applied to women who acknowledge two distinct sex groups.

He also claimed the Declaration on Women’s Sex Based Rights was a “roadmap for erasing trans people from public life, denying our rights and restricting our healthcare.”

Johnstone is not the first trans-identified male be given a platform to speak on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. 

Last year on December 6, the Prince Edward Island Advisory Council on the Status of Women invited Anastasia Preston, a biological male who identifies as a woman, to speak on “gender-based violence” at a vigil honoring the women murdered in the École Polytechnique massacre.

Preston, a “trans community outreach coordinator” at a sexually transmitted disease resource service, became the subject of widespread outrage on social media after he was interviewed by the Prince Edward Island branch of the CBC and claimed that trans-identified males were not given enough opportunities to speak on violence against women.

“For decades, trans women have been kept out of the conversation around gender-based violence,” Preston was quoted as saying, going on to assert that he intended to “speak about some of [his] experiences of harassment on P.E.I.” at the event memorializing the 14 women who were murdered.

After the article began to circulate, CBC P.E.I was so inundated with backlash they had to turn off their Twitter comment section. Johnstone defended Preston at the time, calling him a “hero and a champion.”

By Jennifer Seiland Jennifer is a founding member of the Reduxx team, writing with a focus on crimes against women and sex-based rights advocacy. She is located in the American south where she is a passionate animal welfare advocate and avid coffee drinker.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Transgender advocates across Canada are concerned that the wave of far-right hate against trans people will lead to increased workplace discrimination, despite Canada’s legal protections for gender identity and expression. Fae Johnstone, Executive Director of 2SLGBTQ+ consulting firm Wisdom2Action, has worked with hundreds of employers across Canada to develop trans-inclusive workplace policies. “That is one of the worries that keeps me up at night,” Johnstone told PressProgress. “Increasing social stigmatization and harmful tropes against trans people are filtering throughout our society, so there is a risk here that we will see employers become more hesitant to engage with trans people or bring trans people onto their teams.”

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[sammiroo]

This is the second time in the last few months that Fae Johnstone has come under attack by the far-right and T/ERFs simply for being an activist while trans. First was Hershey's 'Her For She' campaign in which she was featured on chocolate wrappers in Canada which resulted in far-right media both here and in the states going bezerk as well as death threats.

I hope that at least this brings more attention to her work with Wisdom2Action and the important advocacy work she does. But it's horrible for one person to recieve so much targeted harassment in such a short period of time.

[nedsecondline]

As anti-LGBTQ2 hate grows in Canada, advocates say it’s ‘never been as scary’ - National | Globalnews.ca (Me: Canadian and US fascists target Gays and Trans-people for fear and bigotry to get supporters)

As anti-LGBTQ2 hate grows in Canada, advocates say it’s ‘never been as scary’ – National | Globalnews.ca (Me: Canadian and US fascists target Gays and Trans-people for fear and bigotry to get supporters)

“We are seeing some really great changes in terms of acceptance in society, but most queer and trans people I know are still worried about their safety,” said Fae Johnstone, executive director of Wisdom2Action, in an interview with Mercedes Stephenson on The West Block Sunday. “I’ve been doing this work as a queer and trans advocate for a decade. It’s never been as scary out there as it is right…

[onlyexplorer]

The stigma of traditional mental health

The stigma of traditional mental health

THE ADVERTISEMENT: HOST: Between reinforcing stereotypes and stigmatizing ideas, there are a lot of cultural barriers when you’re trying to deal with mental health issues. Especially with depression and suicidal tendencies. Welcome to the conversation room. FAE JOHNSTONE: Hello, my name is Fae Johnstone. I use chive pronouns and am the executive director of Wisdom2Action, an LGBTQ-owned and…

[allthecanadianpolitics]

63 Canadian MP’s voted against a Federal ban on Conversion therapy.

Don’t elect these homophobes and transphobes.

https://twitter.com/Wisdom2Action/status/1407474293341048833

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[coochiequeens]

CA — . On September 18, 2021, hundreds of Canadians across the country protested at women’s federal prisons, objecting to Correctional Service Canada’s interim policy of housing male prisoners in women’s prisons upon request. The National Day of Protest was organized by Women’s Human Rights Campaign Canada, We the Females, and Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights, in conjunction with Women Matter Canada, Alberta Women’s Advocacy Association, Alberta Radical Feminists, Pour les Droits des Femmes Québec, and Keep Prisons Single Sex.

Protesters at Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia:

Edmonton Institution for Women, in Edmonton, Alberta:

Grand Valley Institution for Women, in Kitchener, Ontario:

Joliette Institution for Women, in Joliette, Quebec:

Nova Institution for Women, in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Additionally, individuals protested in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada’s capital city), in solidarity:

In a since-deleted tweet, the Executive Director of Wisdom2Action and Board Member of YWCA Canada agreed with an activist that women advocating for female prisoners are “human filth”, and stated these views are “filthy hate” (note: it is not uncommon for those advocating for women-only spaces to be labelled as “hateful”. See for example, Government-Sponsored ‘Anti-Hate Network’ Accuses Women of Building ‘Anti-Trans’ Coalition). 

[coochiequeens]

Man doesn’t like stickers that remind him he’s a man. Uses his male privilege to complain to men in authority.

CA — Ottawa, ON. On May 7, 2022, Helen Robertson, a self-described “poly bi genderqueer trans lady” tweeted that “transphobic bigots” had posted stickers in the Ottawa-Vanier area. The tweet included photos of the various stickers, which had such statements as:

“Terf – Tired of Explaining Reality to F***wits”

“Keep prisons single sex XX”

“Sex not gender; Woman, adult human female”

“If you won’t respect my sex, don’t expect my X”

“Woman, noun, adult human female”

“Biological reality”

Two days later, Robertson reported having pulled down 56 “anti-trans” stickers and tagged the Ottawa-Vanier city councillor, Mathieu Fleury, the mayor (Jim Watson) and the City of Ottawa Twitter account. Fleury responded that these “hateful messages” were “unacceptable”, and asked Robertson to report to the Ottawa Police Service. A number of individuals asked Fleury what specifically was hateful about the stickers.

One Twitter user posted a photo of a sticker pasted on top of a “Keep prisons single sex” sticker. Along with text saying “Terfs weaponize the patriarchy against transfemmes by telling them what women should be” were drawings of 5 different coloured weapons, which appeared to be some kind of knives, such as machetes. (TERF is a slur used against women who understand that there are two sexes and that humans cannot change sex, while “transfemmes” refers to those of the male sex who consider themselves women). The tweeter asked the councillor what he thought about this sticker and whether residents should report this one to the police. How do you feel about this one? Carefully placed over the appalling sentiment of #KeepPrisonsSingleSex? Please note the machetes… should we be reporting such hatefulness to the police, do you think? pic.twitter.com/XWhkFPd3oB — Mrs. Doctor Bee KPSS (@MrsDrBee) May 10, 2022

Fleury appears, as of press time, not to have answered any of these questions or provided any explanation as to why he considers stickers promoting women’s rights as “hateful”. The following day, a local journalist published an article about the stickers, describing these as “anti-trans” with “cryptic messages”. In the article, Robertson claimed the stickers are “clear dog whistles”: It’s coded in such a way that it’s not very visible to people who don’t necessarily know about the issues. We need to be aware of the dog-whistles that are being used by the people who are organizing these campaigns and attacking these demographics.

Fae Johnstone, Executive Director and co-owner of Wisdom2Action and Board Member of YWCA said that stickering about women’s rights “sends a message to every trans person who sees that that there are folks in this city who just don’t want them to be here, that feel like our presence in public space should be contested.” Johnstone previously agreed with an activist that women advocating for female prisoners are “human filth”, and their views are “filthy hate.” It is not uncommon for those advocating for women-only spaces to be labelled as “hateful”. For example, last year, the government-sponsored Canadian Anti-Hate Network accused women of building an ‘anti-trans’ coalition.