Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her partner Jane Rounthewaite attend the Starry Night Gala at WorldPride in Toronto on June 26, 2014.
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TORONTO, December 13, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Ontario has enshrined a Transgender Day of Remembrance into law, and according to the bill’s sponsor, it is the “first jurisdiction in the world to do so.”
NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo’s Bill 74 passed by unanimous consent at Queen’s Park on Tuesday.
It proclaims November 20 as Trans Day of Remembrance and requires members of the legislature stand for a moment of silence that day.
“By observing a moment of silence, we express our respect for trans people in the face of indifference, prejudice and hatred and memorialize those who have died as a result of anti-trans violence,” the bill states.
The legislation was co-sponsored by Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers and Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance was initiated in 1999 by transgender activist and writer Gwendolyn Ann Smith, as a memorial for transgender woman Rita Hester who was murdered in Boston on November 28, 1998, according to the TDOR website.
DiNovo claimed Ontario’s government is the first to legislate recognition
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