Province asks LGBTTQ+ community for input on safety

The Manitoba government is asking how to better serve members of the LGBTTQ+ community after being “attacked” in recent years.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said the Women and Gender Equity Manitoba Secretariat is conducting an online survey and focus groups to learn more about the community’s needs and concerns.

“The underlying thing here is that in the last many years, we’ve really seen the community not feel safe for a variety of different reasons across the province at the hands of the former government,” she said in an interview.

Before going down to defeat in the Oct. 3 election, the Progressive Conservatives campaigned on “parental rights” — an all-encompassing term rooted in socially-conservative beliefs about gender diversity. Critics said it was a transphobic dog whistle intended to rile up part of the Tories’ base.

This year, most members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly voted in favour of NDP MLA Logan Oxenham’s private members’ bill designating March 31 as Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Visibility in Manitoba. Four members of the Tory caucus voted against it.

Oxenham (Kirkfield Park), Manitoba’s first transgender MLA, called it a day to acknowledge the presence of those who challenge traditional views of gender and to note the harmful impact of transphobia, discriminatory laws and lack of access to gender-affirming care.

“It is important to recognize the agency of youth in understanding gender identity and expression and the positive impact that gender-affirming care has on one’s mental health,” Oxenham said at the time.

Some groups in Manitoba have pushed banning sex education and books in schools that refer to non-traditional views of gender.

“If the community is going to be attacked, the whole government is going to stand behind the community and in support of the community,” Fontaine said.

By asking how it can help with the survey and focus groups, the NDP government is letting LGBTTQ+ Manitobans know it has their back, the minister said.

“This is just one of those prime examples of what we’re trying to do.”

The confidential survey, developed with representatives of the LGBTTQ+ community, asks respondents about their experiences with provincial government services. It’s also collecting demographic data to get a better picture of the community, the survey said.

“Our role as government — and what should be the role of every government that is in power — is to make sure that all citizens feel safe, that all citizens are seen, that all citizens feel like they have a place in this beautiful province of ours,” Fontaine said.

Neither Klinic Community Health nor the Rainbow Resource Centre, which provide services to the LGBTTQ+ community, responded to a request for comment Monday.

The survey can be viewed at engagemb.ca/2slgbtqi.