Penna Dexter

Right around the time we celebrate Independence Day, Canada celebrates Canada Day. July 1st marked 150 years since Canada became a self-governing dominion within the British Empire. The US has a longer history of independence. But when it comes to implementing radical social policy, Canada is outpacing the United States. Wisely, the US Defense Department decided last week to take a step back for a moment — actually six months — to look at whether it’s really a good idea to allow open transgenders to be inducted into the military as had been mandated by the previous administration. Hopefully this pause signals that the new administration will put the brakes on the entire push to elevate transgender demands above common sense. But Canada is moving full-speed ahead with its progressive transgender agenda. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, recently passed a law that could allow the government to remove children from their adoptive and foster homes if their parents decline to affirm and cater to their gender confusion. This is the fifth law Ontario has enacted related to gender ideology in the past five years. In 2012, Ontario’s Human Rights Code was altered to add “gender identity and gender expression” when considering special protections. Bill 13, passed in 2012, compels public schools to guarantee that students can form gay-straight alliances and demanded that schools combat what’s being termed homophobic and trans-phobic biases. In 2015, Bill 77 was enacted. This law prohibits parents from providing therapy for minors to help them attempt to fight their gender dysphoria or homosexual tendencies. Late in 2016, came Bill 28, which removed the terms “mother” and “father” from Ontario law and allows preconception agreements in which four unrelated people may become parents to a child. The think tank, Cardus Family provides research on Canadian social policy. It’s leader penned a warning published in the The Daily Signal. It reads: “Five gender bills in five years makes Ontario’s story a cautionary tale for our friends and neighbors to the south.” We should pay attention.