Combating anti-Trans Hate with the “There’s no Gender Equality Without Trans Women” IWD Campaign

2SLGBTQI+

Combating anti-Trans Hate with the “There’s no Gender Equality Without Trans Women” IWD Campaign

In early March 2023, a spike in hate against trans women erupted in the lead up to International Women’s Day (IWD).

Organizations across Canada issued statements condemning the surge in transphobic including the trans-misogynistic backlash against an International Women’s Day marketing campaign that featured a trans woman. There was an overwhelming surge of online hate against trans communities, and the progressive narratives were in a reactive frame, with anti-rights movements driving the conversation online and in the media.

CASE STUDY

The Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity (CCGSD) wanted to build a powerful coalition and campaign to demonstrate that trans women must be included in efforts for gender equality. The CCGSD wanted to create space for trans communities to drive their own narratives.

Building a coalition and standing up for trans women

To pull this campaign off, we supported our client, the Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity, with creating and executing a campaign to shape the narrative on why trans women are loved, valued, and appreciated – all while shaping the narrative from a reactive to a proactive and strategic frame. The goal was to create a campaign and coalition that celebrated trans women and combatted transphobia and specifically, trans-misogyny.

The Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity convened hundreds of organizations to sign onto a statement declaring that gender equality cannot be achieved without trans women. This campaign received media coverage and was featured on the floor of the House of Commons during Question Period by NDP MP Lisa-Marie Barron.

The signatories on the statement included Rainbow Railroad, The Enchanté Network, Egale Canada, The 519, The Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s Shelters Canada, Oxfam Canada, Imagine Canada, Amnesty International Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress, UFCW Canada, CUPE, PSAC, CUPW, and many more prominent organizations. The campaign received thousands of shared on social media platforms.

Support from Kathryn and her team was instrumental in us achieving our campaign goals.

The CCGSD worked with LeBlanc (& co.) Communications for our International Women’s Day campaign to reaffirm the importance of trans-inclusive feminism in Canada.

This included coordinating campaign messaging with feminist and 2SLGBTQ+ sector colleagues and having our campaign presented during Question Period within the House of Commons.

Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah
Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity