Community Groups Stage Protest in Support of Trans Lives

TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2019 /CNW/ - This Tuesday, October 29^th at 6 PM outside the Palmerston Toronto Public Library branch, a coalition of community groups, library workers, and the broader public are gathering for a peaceful protest to say: no transphobia in our beloved public library!

Toronto Public Library has seen fit to allow Meghan Murphy, a trans-exclusionary writer banned from Twitter for hateful conduct, to hold a talk at its Palmerston branch, despite clear language in TPL rental policy that gives the library the right to refuse events that will further endanger vulnerable people?as this one certainly will.

Despite a petition with thousands of signatures demanding the event be canceled, a call from Toronto Mayor John Tory requesting the same, and many TPL staff members speaking out, City Librarian Vickery Bowles has refused to reconsider hosting the event.

Murphy's talk is scheduled for 6:45 PM on Tuesday, Oct. 29. Community groups and the broader public will gather at 6 PM that night for a peaceful protest outside the Palmerston library. Palmerston is a public space meant to be welcoming for families and youth?including queer and trans families, queer and trans youth. Those protesting this event wish to keep their library safe for such vulnerable community members. CUPE Local 4948, the Toronto Public Library Workers Union, has itself endorsed this protest.

The protest's community co-hosts include No More Silence, Fight for $15 & Fairness, Artists for Climate & Migrant Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty, Climate

Justice Toronto, Maggie's: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, SURJ Toronto, IfNotNow Toronto, Workers' Action Centre, and New Socialists, with the support of Pride Toronto, which will be providing free, accessible transportation to the protest from its own rally happening immediately beforehand, from 4:00-5:00 PM at Barbara Hall Park.

The protest outside the library will feature members of Artists for Climate & Migrant Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty leading a read-in of writing by trans authors.

Attendees are encouraged to find the work of their favourite trans poets or story writers or essayists at the TPL (or buy copies) and bring those books to the protest?to lift up trans voices in a joyful community celebration.

For more background on the protest's circumstances: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/meghan-murphy-library-talk-1.5323015

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.5324424/i-m-not-going-to-reconsider-toronto-s-top-librarian-refuses-to-bar-speaker-critical-of-transgender-rights-1.5324431

SOURCE Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)