The page also links to broader advice on how LGBTQ people are subject to local laws at their travel destinations, “even if those laws violate your human rights.”
Although the advisor did not list specific state laws or policies, Jérémie Bérubé, spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, pointed to legislation passed this year in some US states “banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events,” among other restrictions.
Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a former foreign minister, told reporters on Tuesday that the travel advisory was renewed because Ottawa prioritizes the “interests and safety of all Canadians.”
“We have professionals in government whose job it is to look carefully around the world and monitor whether there are specific risks to certain groups of Canadians,” she said, adding that “it was the right thing to do ‘ to be done.”
In May, US-based human rights groups issued a travel advisory for Florida, noting that the state had passed bills that included restricting conversation about gender and sexual orientation in classrooms and prohibiting trans people from using many bathrooms and changing areas.
State legislators across the United States have introduced nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year, according to data compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union. “While not all of these bills will become law, they will all cause harm to LGBTQ people,” the ACLU said on its website.
A Washington Post survey in April found that, four months into this year’s state legislative sessions, more bills aimed at LGBTQ rights — with an emphasis on transgender rights — had become law than was at any other time in US history.
Logan S. Casey, a senior researcher at the Mobility Advancing Project, which monitors the legislation, said at the time that the increase in such laws was “part of a national effort which is very clear and known in state legislatures that are and are. has been going on for years – and it’s coming to an end this year.”
This month, North Carolina banned transgender athletes from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams and banned gender-affirming care for minors, while a bill banning care Gender verification for transgender youth is legal in Louisiana.
In Texas, a law that would prevent young people from medically reassigning sex and ban the use of Medicaid to pay for such treatments is expected to take effect this week.
In Canada, those who want to target LGBTQ rights through legislation have had far less success. But they often use the same language and tactics as their US counterparts, advocates for the LGBTQ community say.
The province of New Brunswick this year has been rocked by changes to a policy that would prevent teachers from identifying students under the age of 16 with their preferred pronouns and names without their parents’ permission.
Advocates for LGBTQ students argue that the change risks sending children to parents who may not be supportive and puts their safety at risk. Blaine Higgs, the department’s chief executive, has defended the changes as necessary to protect parents’ rights.
He told the provincial legislature that gender dysphoria is becoming “popular and trendy” because “it’s so accepted that ‘Okay, this is okay,'” and has complained the -a “dragging story time” interface for young students, responding to the US language. lawmakers.
New Brunswick’s child and youth advocate said in a report this month that the changes violate rights protected by the Canadian constitution. The province of Saskatchewan has introduced a similar policy.
Amanda Coletta contributed to this report.
