Registered sex offenders in Ontario would not be able to legally change their names if a bill that’s before the legislature passes.
The legislation jointly introduced this week by Progressive Conservatives Laurie Scott and Laura Smith is all but ensured passage, with their party – which has a majority in the legislature– supporting it.
“This bill, if passed, will stop the Karla Homolkas from becoming the Leanne Teales,” Smith said, referring to the infamous killer and her name change.
“We just feel that the right to change somebody’s name should not be abused. We want to strengthen our province’s commitment to zero tolerance to these offenders and their heinous crimes and put our full support behind the victims and the families … We have to close up this loophole.”
lots of people in the states being changed to count as ‘sex offenders’ thanks to a lot of anti-trans bills, and with Saskatchewan passing their shitty “need parents’ permission to change pronouns” law that just passed…
😬
Your reminder that - yea, even in extreme circumstances like these - rights are rights, not “good boy privileges”.
When we take away the rights of undesirable communities, we give the oppressor the tool by which to disenfranchise anyone who opposes them.
There are a not-insignificant number of older queers who are sex offenders for doing things like “hitting on another adult of the same gender” here in the US, so that … scans.
Long ass addition. you have been warned.
alright so. lets start with this:
People are people. People who break the law are people. Yes, even people who do heinous shit. Yes, even sex offenders.
People have rights. This of course includes basic needs, like food, hygiene, shelter, water, healthcare. They also, quite crucially, have the right to privacy. Yes, even sex offenders.
The next logical step here would be to define what a sex offender actually is. Unfortunately I have no idea how to figure out what exactly constitutes a sex crime in Ontario. I believe it may involve wading through a lot of legal crap and I don’t have the time, energy, or expertise to do so. But, here’s what I have been able to gather:
Some crimes that we tend to think of first when we hear the words “sex offense”/“sex offender” Include: rape, incest, sexual abuse, sexual assault, bestiality, csa, child porn, sex trafficking, genital mutilation.
Some crimes that can be sex offenses that we don’t necessarily think of in this context:
Prostitution (also probably prostitution related charges, such as the kind that basically prevent sex workers from receiving money from others because sometimes in some places that’s a crime under anti-pimping laws? Philosophy Tube’s video about sex work references this, iirc. Feel free to correct me on this.)
corruption of a minor (I literally have no idea what this is, found it on this webpage, if anyone knows please tell me)
sodomy (legal in Canada, illegal but not enforceable in 12 US States; still, point about older queers stands
unlawful imprisonment
indecent exposure
public urination (they really do love criminalizing homelessness)
Transporting a person across jurisdictions with the intent of engaging in sexual activities (this is different from sex trafficking? not sure how this one works, it’s also from this webpage.)
I put these ones in a bulleted list so my commentary in parentheses is easier to discern. I pulled this list from a combination of American and Canadian sources, and I couldn’t really find a solid definition for what a sex offense is in Ontario specifically.
There’s a lot of reading out there regarding this subject. Here’s some more, separated by 'free to read’ and 'you might need a library card/school account to log into JSTOR for these.’ If ppl really care about this addition then I can always download pdfs of the latter and put them in a google drive folder.
So, I personally think people should care about this in that justice should be humane and restorative, not vindictive and cruel, and sex offenders are already heavily penalized and somewhat marginalized in our society.
And I haven’t even mentioned the way folks who don’t engage in any of the crimes I mention might fall under the label of “sex offender” anyway. The way anti-trans and anti-queer laws have been ramping up in the US is one of the most obvious; anti-drag laws are also likely going to affect certain racial groups (often POC, especially Black women are labelled/considered less feminine/“mannish.”) They’re also likely to affect fat people; a common form of fatphobia is acting as though fatness disqualifies one from their gender. And they’re not likely to stop at trans people; they’re going to come after queerness on the whole, too. (And in some places, they already are.)
This entire thing is terrifying. On a similar note to what user gayadvicefairy said above, passing this law would grant our oppressors more tools with which to disenfranchise us. We do not need more surveillance. We do not need more punishment. We need rehabilitative and restorative justice. We need liberation.
A bit of light for the end of this- while there was hateful protests across Canada, there were also massive counter protests which hugely outnumbered the protesters, in some areas more than 10 to 1. Here’s a few pics courtesy of a friend from our downtown after the protests-
