Did you know that today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (sometimes known as IDAHOT)?

Canadian legislators did.

The Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has introduced a bill today that will protect transgender people from discrimination.

Everyone deserves to live free of stigma, persecution and discrimination — no matter who they are or whom they love.

Today is about ensuring that all people — regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity — feel safe and secure and empowered to freely express themselves.

--Trudeau

Jody Wilson-Raybould, the justice minister, said the government had acted on recommendations from advocates for transgender people, and had written the legislation to cover both gender identity, or how people define themselves, and gender expression, or how people choose to act, dress or otherwise display their identity.

Diversity and inclusion have long been among the values Canadians embrace.

--WIlson-Raybould

The government’s proposals include changes to both the federal criminal code and the Canadian Human Rights Act. The changes to the criminal code will have a broader impact, because criminal law is solely a federal responsibility in Canada, while each province has its own human rights charter. Current law makes it a crime to make “hate propaganda” against members of specific groups; the proposed legislation would add transgender people to the list. It would also oblige judges to consider in sentencing decisions whether crimes were caused by or aggravated because of discrimination against transgender people.

[Wilson-Raybould] said that only eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories specifically included transgender people under their human rights laws, and that only five covered both gender identity and gender expression.

Canada’s House of Commons has twice passed similar legislation during the previous Conservative government, but objections from Conservatives in the country’s appointed Senate stalled the bills until they died when the parliamentary sessions ended.

Alexandre Baril, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s institute of feminist and gender studies, said the new bills were welcome but insufficient on their own.

We cannot count on legal reforms to protect transgender people.

It will be a first step, but after that, there are so many things we need to focus on.

--Mr. Baril

Among other things, he said, there was still an acute need to improve health support, particularly for mental health needs, for transgender people in Canada.

Asked what her message to America is, Wilson-Raybould said: "This is a message to all Canadians that we live in a time where discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable."

Twelve-year-old Charlie Lowthian-Rickert thanked the government, saying that she felt much safer.

It will protect us from hateful propaganda and assault.

--Charlie