05/30/2024 

Treaty 1 and Dakota Territory, Homeland of the Red River Metis, Winnipeg MB – A bill to protect trans and two-spirit kids has passed third reading in the House, despite some PC Opposition MLAs voting against it.  

Bill 208, the Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Visibility Act was introduced by NDP MLA for Kirkfield Park, Logan Oxenham (he/him). It recognizes every March 31st as a day that honours the courage and resilience of Two-Spirit, transgender and nonbinary people in Manitoba.  

“Trans lives matter. In the last campaign we saw a PC party that attacked trans and two-spirit kids for their own political purposes—and today they proved they haven’t changed a bit,” said Oxenham (he/him). “Their party told Manitobans they had “lost their way” in the campaign, yet here we have PC MLAs who continue to believe trans kids don’t matter. This party hasn’t changed or seen the error of their ways in anyway.”  

PC MLAs Kelvin Goertzen, Ron Shuler, Josh Guenter and Konrad Narth voted against the bill in a recorded vote. Other PC MLAs abstained from voting entirely, including MLAs Obby Khan, Jodie Byram, Derek Johnson, Trevor King, Lauren Stone, Carrie Heibert, Jeff Wharton, and Rick Wowchuck.  

The vote marks the first time in recent memory a party has been split in a vote of this nature in the Manitoba legislature.  

“Time and again the Leader of the PC Opposition has doubled down on his anti-trans stance. First he tells a national newspaper the divisive, misleading parental rights issue is “where we need to go”, and now his caucus votes against this bill,” said NDP House Leader Nahanni Fontaine. “For this to happen just a few days before Pride month tells you everything you need to know about where the PCs stand on 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. The PCs act contrite but haven’t really changed. Today was their day to prove they were different. They failed.”  

-30-