When Sarah Spoon, a member of Canby’s City Council, forwarded a message from the local LGBTQ community asking the town to recognize the International Trans Day of Visibility, or TDOV, to Brian Hodsons, she was met with a rejection from the mayor and an explanation that mentioned that he already signed an inclusive “safe city declaration” which does not mention trans people at all, according to New Now Next.
In Hodson’s email to Spoon, he claimed that recognizing the International Trans Day of Visibility would cause him to receive a “litany of requests” and that he will have people asking to recognize all individuals. He also said that he believes that by acknowledging one group specifically is discriminatory. He asked Spoon to not make this decision public and she agreed to treat this matter with discretion but local news outlet Canby Now reported it and now opponents of trans rights are now opposing the proclamation that has already been rejected.
A teenage protestor, AdriAnne Carlson called TDOV a “form of discrimination against heterosexuals” and said that Canby shouldn’t “encourage the act of pretending to be something you biologically are not,” which shows the all-too-common misunderstanding that sex does not equal gender. This is unfortunately not the worst thing about the mention of TDOV, as the trans people of Canby no longer feel safe in their own town. Additionally, a local business owner was threatened to have their business firebombed after they declared support for trans people. I don’t know about you, but threats of domestic terrorism are definitely unnerving and a huge overreaction to someone supporting trans rights.
Hodson said that he is saddened by the fact that a portion of Canby doesn’t feel safe and that it was never his intention to create conflict within the town but many believe that he is responsible for the fighting within Canby. Now, he may not be responsible but he did initiate the protest by denying the request to recognize the innocuous and important event that, yes, does favor one group, but to show that trans people exist.
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h/t: New Now Next