Toronto Boasts New Transgender Singles Group





The transgender meet-up group for singles can be found on meetup.com. The group seeks to unite transgender people in Toronto who want to socialize with friends, admirers and supporters in the mainstream -- and not just the Village. Their modus operandi is to hold all meet up events at the best cafes, bistros and restaurants in the village and across mostly downtown Toronto. This decision is to uphold the group’s philosophy and social political orientation that transgendered people with the support of other Torontonians ought to feel comfortable to going to events and venues anywhere in Toronto.

The primary aim of their events is to bring together singles who are seeking to further expand friendships. To join this group, an intending member would be required to answer the following questions:

What are your interests in joining this group?

Are you transgender?

Are you seeking new friends, a potential relationship or both through this group?

Do you promise to respect your RSVP to any Meetup events that you sign-up to attend?

Founded September 17 2016, the group has 272 members at date and is a private group. Most of their meetup events are kept private from the public and revealed to group members only.

The reason for this privacy surrounding the group, might not be farfetched. Transgenders have faced extreme fatal, physical and even sexual violence in the past. Just last year, transgender activist, Sophie Labelle, from Montreal went through extreme cyber bullying, and was subjected to death threats and hate speeches. And even had attackers publish her address and personal details online which forced her to vacate the address and temporarily leave her city. Labelle, during the incident, said she was used to receiving hate messages on a daily basis.

On the sunny side, just last year, the Bill C-16 was passed, extending long overdue protections to transgender Canadians. This bill protects transgender rights, precisely gender identity and gender expression, in the Canadian Human Rights Act alongside other rights such as those based on sex, race, marital status, age, disability, or religious belief.

The passage of the bill took a lot of years of lobbying to finally have it accepted and practiced by a majority of Canadians. And this is owing to the unrelenting work of diehard activists, grassroots organizations who tirelessly worked to bring change.

“It takes incredible courage to be the one to stick your head above the crowd and speak out for the rights and needs of your community or to be an ally who holds privilege to support other communities in demanding inclusion” says Jerry Dias, writing for the huffingtonpost.ca. “We in the labour movement certainly understand that impulse, that drive to help others -- which is why struggles such as this are an integral part of the of the work done by unions and other worker organizations”.

For the reasons above, the survival of a transgender meet-up group becomes a welcome development in the city. The group’s next meet-up is on August 21 and it happens to be a fish and chips, then club outing.


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