OneBC says more than 600 people showed up at a townhall it held in Vancouver Saturday.
The event was led by party leader Dallas Brodie and headlined by Chris Elston, known online as Billboard Chris.
Appearing at the event wearing a sandwich board that said, “Children Cannot Consent to Puberty Blockers,” Elston has gained attention online for his activism against gender-affirming care for children.
The townhall was billed as an opportunity for people to speak about parental rights, school curricula, and gender ideology.
Brodie and Elston say their ideologies extend past not believing children can consent to transitioning genders; they say they don’t believe transgender people exist at all.
“So first of all, there’s no such thing as a transgender person,” Elston said.
“There’s men and women, boys and girls.”
Brodie says the bodies of children receiving gender affirming care “are being mutilated, and their normal progression through puberty is being denied to them by puberty-blocking drugs.”
L, a local teacher who transitioned, came to the townhall to protest. She says a lot of anti-trans rhetoric is based in conspiracy.
“I think it blows my mind as to what they think is happening in classrooms,” L said.
“Because the simple fact is, if we look at SOGI, for example, what that is, is just teaching students that there are people who might be a little different.”
The anti-SOGI ideology being discussed at the townhall is concerning to protestors.
“That is oxygen for them; it gives them space to continue gaining legitimacy,” L said.
“They get to manufacture consent for whatever their hatreds are, and they’re able to control that narrative.”
After intense protests marred a OneBC event on the UBC campus in January, a strong police presence kept things fairly orderly Saturday, but the animosity was still clear.
“Hey hey, ho ho, transphobia has got to go!” protestors chanted.
Some critics are raising questions about whether OneBC is doing more to divide the province than unite it — something Brodie doesn’t believe.
“People are coming out who feel completely disaffected by the system, because they are constantly being told that what they believe in isn’t true,” she said.
L says her existence isn’t predicated on others’ beliefs.
“I’m standing right here. I’m right here.”
She says she lives a rich life in spite of the hostility she says she sometimes feels.
“Honestly, notwithstanding the fact that there are people who spew hatred, I’m very happy, I’m in a loving marriage, I have a great job, I love teaching,” she said.
But the fact that it is being debated at all deeply concerns her.
“I have a really good life. And part of my fear is, I don’t want to lose that.”
