On Sept. 20, approximately 250 counter-protestors gather around 10:00 a.m. in preparation for the arrival of Ensemble Pour Protéger Nos Enfants (EPPNE) members. EPPNE held a demonstration an hour later to oppose the inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+ identities in sexual education in primary or secondary school.While counter-protestors chant across the slowly growing group of EPPNE demonstrators on de Maisonneuve Blvd., at least 40 police officers in riot gear position themselves on the street, facing the counter-protestors. The police are armed with short and long-range tear gas launchers, which were deployed one month ago against Rad Pride marchers, inadvertently injuring a 10-month-old when tear gas was launched into a crowd of bystanders.Around 30 members of EPNNE gather in Norman Bethune Square for their third annual demonstration. While the organization claims not to defend homophobic or transphobic ideas, they maintain that gender affirming responses in schools are experimental treatment or abuse.The EPPNE emphasizes the rights of parents to regulate and control their children’s education. On the testimonial section of EPPNE’s website, parents lament their alienation from children brainwashed by gender ideology, not acknowledging that the alienation may come from their own lack of acceptance.Transgender Day of Remembrance, coming up on Nov. 20, honours the memory of those lost to anti-transgender violence around the world and calls for action to protect transgender people. The counter-protest was held in honour of Sam Nordquist, a transgender man who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed earlier this year after local authorities neglected to undertake due diligence on several occasions.Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s French-language Minister, is set to present legislation banning the use of gender-neutral language in official messages. Although Roberge says the move aims to simplify and clarify communication, its material effect regresses the French language and alienates individuals identifying outside of the gender binary.One counter-protestor converts EPNNE’s phrase “Leave the kids be!” to “Leave the trans kids be!” EPNNE’s messaging in favour of banning trans identities at school encourages violence and bullying towards transgender youth and hinders their self-acceptance.A group of counter-protestors place planks of wood on Crescent St. between themselves and the advances of riot police holding shields. The group of counter-protestors was forced to retreat to de Maisonneuve Blvd. when officers charged towards them while hitting their batons against their shields.Around noon, officers used pepper spray to push back a group of protestors trying to advance up Crescent St. towards Sherbrooke St. The brutal tactic is common practice for the SPVM, who attempted to break up last year’s counter-protest against transphobia in the same manner.From Alberta to the United States, anti-trans legislation is appearing throughout North America, targeting educational settings, healthcare providers, and parental and civil rights. Organizations like the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and Egale gather policy experts, lawyers, educators, and organizers to work towards protecting and defending transgender people at all levels of government.Counter-protestors gather in front of the Roddick gates across from a small group of remaining EPNNE demonstrators around noon, marking the end of the march. Among the chants from counter-protesters, they use, “Queer power,” ”Trans rights are human rights,” and “We’re here. We’re queer. You can’t make us disappear.”A counter-protester holds a transgender pride flag with the message, “Trans rights are human rights,” inside McGill metro station following the end of the demonstration and counter-protest. In an interview with The Tribune, Celeste Trianon, a front-line advocate for the counter-protest and founder of a legal clinic that supports trans individuals, said, “Schools are already unsafe for trans kids… will [schools] actually protect children, or will [schools] put them in further danger?”
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