Deachman: What I saw in the middle of the “One Million March for Children” protest

A thin line of police and a wide chasm of thought separated participants at Wednesday’s marches for and against trans rights.

Published Sep 20, 2023 • Last updated 36 minutes ago • 3 minute read

OTTAWA – Sept 20, 2023 – Thousands of people gathered for the 1MillionMarch4Children and Hands Off Our Kids protest and counterprotest in downtown Ottawa Wednesday. The demonstrations began as part of a number of rallies against transgender rights to be held across Canada Wednesday. TONY CALDWELL, Postmedia. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

I didn’t go to the “One Million March for Children” on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to have my mind changed. No one did — not the many hundreds of protesters voicing their opposition to 2SLGBTQ+ inclusive education policies in classrooms, nor the hundreds of counterprotesters who marched up from the Supreme Court lawn to square off against them and exchange chants and songs from the opposite side of Wellington Street. This was not some school debate where minds were changed and hearts won over.

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That People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier was there on the side of the protesters, while NDP leader Jagmeet Singh took up with the counterprotesters might give you an idea of the chasm between the two groups, a canyon far wider than the few lanes of Wellington Street and the thin line of police that physically separated them.

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It was evident elsewhere, too. Before either politico arrived, even before the counterprotesters made their way up to the Hill, I saw two women bravely knotting their way through the opposition camp with a sign that read “Trans rights are human rights.” Another woman, walking behind them with a five- or six-year-old boy who I presume was her son, turned to him and said, “That’s child groomers right there!”

“What’s that?” the boy asked.

“It’s people who want to take your rights away,” the mother replied.

Later, as the two groups traded uninspired chants from opposite sidewalks — “Hey, ho, hate must go!” vs. “Leave the kids alone!” — I noticed a man, part of the “million,” standing stock still with his right hand held aloft, his index finger pointing skyward. I watched as he stood motionless for what seemed like ages — probably a minute or so — before approaching him to ask what he was doing.

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“Letting them know that God is watching,” he said.

“Do you think God would be against what they’re doing?” I asked.

“Well, I think so,” he replied, in a tone that suggested to me that he might be unable to think otherwise.

Another protester gladly and loudly shared a brief exchange she’d just had with an unsympathetic passerby. “The woman wearing a mask is calling me an idiot!” she shouted to everyone around here. “Oh, that is rich!”

Meanwhile, throw in a few anti-vax signs and a few more “Trudeau must resign” flags and the demonstration resembled the so-called Freedom Convoy, but with its trucks replaced by religious fundamentalists and its COVID-related messaging largely replaced by “No child is born in the ‘wrong’ body” and “Pray for the woke mob” signs.

In speaking with some of the protesters, though, I got the sense that the school issue was more of a convenient place to hang their discomfort with gender fluidity.

On Wednesday, I asked people on either side of Wellington what they saw on the sidewalk opposite them. One protester, who came from Montreal, said he respected the counterprotesters, even the drag queen who was “as big as a rugby player, but that’s alright.” But in almost the same breath, he added that kindergarteners shouldn’t be exposed to drag queens, nor what he believes is an “agenda” telling youngsters they shouldn’t discuss their sexual orientation or gender with their parents. “When I was a kid, I was playing with G.I. Joe and the girls played with Barbie,” he said. “Let them have a normal youth and not be programmed and brainwashed.”

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On the other side of Wellington, a transgender counterprotester told me she felt “shitty.” “I just want to exist, and these people don’t want me to exist.”

A queer counterprotester, meanwhile, said she saw bigots. “I see people who don’t entirely understand what it is we’re fighting for.”

What they’re fighting for is what they have always been fighting for: the right simply to be themselves, to be treated fairly and equally, and to be safe. To have people recognize that trans rights are, in fact, human rights. Simply put, to exist. It seemed like a reasonable request when I arrived at the demonstration, and no less so when I left.

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