Other right-wing accounts variously reacted by describing the move as Orwellian, lamenting the death of free speech and even contemplating leaving Canada for good.

Oh no. Not that. Please no.

<Tee hee!>

  • even contemplating leaving Canada for good.

    Hello, yes, LGBT person stuck in Texas here. Can I have their house please? I don’t really like the cold, but if it means I don’t have to feel scared about coming out of the closet then I could deal with it.

      • Track_Shovel ( Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net ) 
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        3 years ago

        litter boxes

        Not who you’re replying to, but fuck, I forgot about that conspiracy.

        Ughhhh. I’m not LGBT, but I hate how they are mistreated and the fucking mental gymnastics and lengths people will do to hate you guys. It’s fucking despicable.

        Grindr account -> harrassment

        Jesus, that’s shitty.

        • PerogiBoi ( PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca ) Banned from community
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          Some dudes play the long game to get you to open up and then they post all of your stuff on the town pages and stuff calling you a groomer or a pedo. And the worst part is that most people believe the first thing they see/hear/read so all it takes is one rumour or malicious post and your entire life in the town is upside down. Can’t leave the house to go to the grocery store without someone sneering or making a remark.

          Rural Atlantic Canada is absolutely fucked and it wasn’t even this bad 3 years ago when I moved here. Looking to make my exit plan in the next year or so.

            • PerogiBoi ( PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca ) Banned from community
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              That’s the goal. I used to live in a metropolitan area but was priced out and moved more rurally but things now have gotten very very bad where I’m at. Saving some money and hoping I can sell the house before someone burns it down.

              I’m hoping I’m just being extreme at the last part 😭

      • I fully agree that Canada’s not a progressive safe haven, but I think for now queer people are still better off pretty much anywhere in Canada than in Texas. Let’s all agree that this isn’t much of an accomplishment.

        However, I live in New-Brunswick, whose Conservative government has been at the forefront of the recent uprise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in Canada. At work, I wear a pronoun pin. I’ve worn dresses and nail polish (as a person who was AMAB) out anywhere, from sketchy clubs downtown to Tim Horton’s in rural villages. I’ve been made to feel uncomfortable at times, sure, but I’ve very rarely felt truly unsafe being visibly queer in Canada. From the perspectives of southern American queers I’ve read, that doesn’t seem to be the experience in places like Texas (outside of progressive bubbles such as Austin).

        That’s not to say the situation in Canada vis-à-vis LGTBQ+ rights and well-being isn’t incredibly worrying. With folks like Blaine Higgs, Scott Moe, and potentially Pierre Poilievre running things, plus the everlasting importing of American political talking points, Canada could very well become as inhospitable for queer people as anywhere in the US. In NB, Higgs is already gearing to use the “parents rights” anti-queer dogwhistle as his main campaign issue for the next election. My friends and I have all been called groomers by anti-queer protesters, some have even had their pride flags ripped away from them and stomped on.

        Sorry this comment kinda got long and ranty. TL;DR: Shit sucks for queer people in Canada and will quite possibly get much worse very quickly but I still think we’re better off than Texan queers (for now).

        • Grimpen ( Grimpen@lemmy.ca ) 
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          Varies a lot by region. Out here on Vancouver Island you can see it in microcosm. Still, I would be curious about teasing out stats on how different.

          My impression from relatives in even Alberta would (anecdotally) seem to back this up. Edmonton would be fine, but Lloydminster maybe a little rough.

      • CanadaPlus ( CanadaPlus@futurology.today ) 
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        Yeah, we’re maybe 15 years behind the US on that stuff. Of course, very few young people are into it, so there’s a demographic headwind. We also have faster immigration, and if the US goes really ugly that’s going to lead to a crackdown on the troglodytes here.

      • As a furry, the “litterboxes in the classrooms” thing would be funny if it weren’t for the fact that A) it’s not just a couple nutjobs, somehow people actually believed it, and B) they actually exist to a certain extent, but not because of “trans-animal” kids; some schools have them so kids have a place to piss during a lockdown (like a shooting).

        It’s not uncommon for the community to have memes about furries showing up in textbooks, the furry illuminati, furries in high places, we’re taking over your schools and making them cringe, etc, because there are a number of us with “mystery money” and/or have odd jobs. Like, there are furries who are CEOs, furries who are scientists, tech furries, and furries who are just normal joes, working normal jobs as educators, accountants, etc. So “litterboxes in schools” would normally fuel that form of humor if it weren’t for the fact that the circumstances around it are so fucked up.

  • How can the government just overstep on Canadians’ first amendment rights? Don’t they know what the US founding fathers stood for? The right of Canadians to say whatever they want to whomever they want without fear of any consequences!!!1!

            • Grimpen ( Grimpen@lemmy.ca ) 
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              I think it was in Grade 10 Social Studies, BC, back in the eighties mind, so it was pretty fresh then and long in the past now. We didn’t exactly commit it to memory, just “this happened in 1982, here is the text” 10 question quiz or something, probably a question or two at the most on the final. Even when something is covered in school, and is on the final, the details will be hazy within a few years, although hopefully the general concepts will endure.

              Of course, some of these people calling out groomers were probably in High School before the Constitution Act of 1982.

  • grte ( grte@lemmy.ca ) 
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    They used to have a much better grasp on this sort of thing. “Is so-and-so a groomer? I don’t know, but people have been saying. I’m just asking questions…” and so forth. Couching your bs accusations in uncertain language to protect you from the libel lawsuit you clearly deserve. I guess it’s good they seem to be forgetting about that tool more frequently.

    • Defamation isn’t protected under US laws either. It might not be super well enforced, especially on the internet, but that’s also not really exclusive to the US. A lot of countries are just now really getting into the legalities of what happens on the internet, for better or worse in certain cases. But generally speaking, laws also apply to what you say online of course.

      • There is a fundamental difference in the way defamation is treated in Canada(and other Common law countries like the UK and Australia) and the US. This is a simplification, but basically in the US you generally need to prove that the statement was knowingly false (in addition to other defamation requirements like proving damages). This is nearly impossible to do in most situations. In Common law the person who said the statement needs to prove they had a reasonable justification for thinking the statement true. This reverses who the onus of proof is on and makes winning defamation cases in Canada actually plausible.