FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Transwoman and trans rights activist, Jennifer McCreath from Newfoundland, will be visiting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick August 8 - 10 to promote trans rights and attend Pride events. She will be accompanied to some of the events by Nova Scotia transman and activist, Asher MacDonald of rural Cumberland County NS.
Jennifer is best-known for parlaying her trans status with her athletic legacy as a marathon runner, her political activism, and her flamboyant personality; into public educational and advocacy work regarding issues affecting transgender, transsexual, panssexual, and intersexed individuals.
McCreath is in the early stages of launching her own Jennifer McCreath Foundation, an organization that will carry out educational, activist, and peer support work for members of the trans communities all over Canada, with a core focus on Eastern Canada.
McCreath also hopes to resurrect the grass roots concept of the East Coast Trans Alliance, a vision she first conceptualized in 2011, with the idea that trans activists would be better-served by coming together and fighting battles of a common cause. McCreath realizes that trans people in the 4 eastern provinces of Canada, are at a significant disadvantage, compared to trans people elsewhere, given the current states of Government trans health policies, trans legal identification document issues, as well as general societal attitudes towards trans people in terms of employment, housing, physical safety, bullying, and general social acceptance. McCreath notes that there are very few family doctors will to prescribe hormone therapy treatment for trans patients in NS and NB, something they are quite capable of doing. This causes unnecessary wait times and unnecessary schedule overload of the one trans-friendly endocrinologist in Halifax.
McCreath is also concerned that PEI and NB are the only 2 provinces in Canada who do not provide Government health care funding for trans surgeries, even when deemed medically-necessary by doctors. McCreath also has concerns that trans NS and NBers are unable to change ID documents without having surgery, something that is expensive, and something that not all trans people require. McCreath also wants to see NB amend their provincial Human Rights Act to include Gender Identity and Gender Expression, something most other provinces have already done.
McCreath hopes her visit will encourage more Atlantic transpeople to come out publicly and organize themselves better so that they can better speak and advocate for themselves, as well as collaborate with trans communities of other provinces to fight common battles.
McCreath also sees this visit as an opportunity to develop networking contacts and friendships with members of the NS and NB LGB and T communities. She also hopes that her presence in these provinces, combined with the events she has organized, will help shine a light on the issues currently faced by trans people in NS and NB, and act as a catalyst to stimulate conversations about how society can better learn to accept and embrace, trans people.
Last month, McCreath hosted successful trans flag waving events at town halls of Summerside and Charlottetown PEI, and also spearheaded a very well attended trans rights demonstration event, out from of PEI provincial Government headquarters, Province House. McCreath will be hosting a 'networking breakfast in Halifax on the morning of Aug 8, then will be dropping into a trans camping event in Scotsburn NS on Aug 9. Then on the eventing of the 9th, she and Asher will co-host a 'networking round table discussion' of trans issues with Moncton's River of Pride, in Dieppe NB, then travel to Fredericton to host a similar trans rights demo in front of the NB provincial government headquarters on the morning of the 10th, then march in the official Fredericton Pride parade.
McCreath, a Nova Scotia native, looks forward to this leg of her tour "I am really excited to come back to my original home of Halifax to host an event that will bring trans activists together to discuss the issues. I am also excited to return to New Brunswick, a place that actually has a rather large closeted trans population. I look forward to taking steps to raise better awareness of the issues, and help build a foundation that will lead to some solutions," McCreath said.
Event Schedule:
Networking Trans Breakfast - Halifax, NS, Aug 8, 7.45 am
Trans camping event drop-in - Scotsburn, NS Aug 9, TBA
Networking Trans Round table - Dieppe, NB, Aug 9, 7.30 pm
Sunrise Rainbow and Trans Flag Waving Ceremony - Oromocto, NB, Aug 10, 6.45 am
Networking Breakfast with Asher MacDonald - Fredericton, NB, Aug 10, 7:45 am
Trans Rights Demonstration - Fredericton, NB, Aug 10, 9.30 am
Marching in the Fredericton Pride Parade, Fredericton, NB, Aug 10, noon
A full bio of McCreath can be found here:
http://jennifermccreath.blogspot.ca/2012/11/updated-bio-11012012.html
Questions and interviews:
Jennifer McCreath
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
http://www.jennifermccreath.com
info@jennifermccreath.com
www.twitter.com/Jenn_McCreath
709-753-9529
Follow @Jenn_McCreath Tweet
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