Vancouver is pretty well know as being a socially progressive city, especially in terms of the safety and rights of LGBTQIA+ people. It’s part of the reason I love this place so much; I don’t have to worry about being harassed or abused every time I leave the house. However, something happened recently to me demonstrated that although this city is a pretty great place to be, it’s not free of those who want to harm people belonging to marginalized groups.

A friend of mine and I were sitting in SUB last week, tabling for Trans Day of Remembrance. Normally sitting at the table isn’t a big deal; we just talk to the few people that come up to us and let them know about all the resources we have to offer. Most people don’t pay much attention to us, and go about their business. Unfortunately, we had someone come up to us that Tuesday who wasn’t exactly friendly. This person, while not outwardly abusive in their comments, made it pretty clear that they thought people who weren’t straight and cisgender were somehow morally inept or dangerous. It was not the most pleasant experience to have someone come up to you and tell you they’re afraid of their daughter “becoming gay”.

The feeling my friend and I  had after this happened was along the lines of “how could we have possibly responded to something like this?” Neither of  us knew what to do in this situation. How can you stand up for yourself, and try to prevent people like this from causing more harm? We were shocked by the fact that someone in this city would find it reasonable to be so directly hateful.

I think it’s easy to forget, living in what is a generally pretty accepting place, that in many places people’s basic rights are being infringed upon every second. We have a tendency to lapse into complacency, and say “things are okay, why complain?” We still need events like the pride parade, and Trans Day of Remembrance because stuff like this happens with extraordinary frequency. We need to remember our privilege, and the fact that some people don’t have the rights that we may take for granted.