Transgender Entertainer Mandy Goodhandy Stands Up for Transgender Rights

TORONTO - May 5, 2016 - PRLog -- The 2016 Canadian Census has been arriving on doorsteps across Canada and despite transgender Canadians' fight to be recognized, they are still not counted in the census and transgender entertainer Mandy Goodhandy has something to say about it.

Mandy Goodhandy aka Amanda Taylor is Canada's first trans woman stand-up comedian and co-owner of 120 Diner and has been living as a trans woman for over twenty five years. Mandy has been working tirelessly to help people understand that trans people exit, starting with government recognition, legal documentation and trans rights in general. She was groundbreaking as the first trans person to refuse to participate in the Canadian census in 2001, stating she would not participate in any survey, government run or otherwise, that did not include or recognize trans people. Mandy has also refused to check off male or female on the census form in 2006, 2011 and will do so again in 2016.

"To be acknowledged and recognized by the mainstream is a big step towards educating people that we exist and deserve basic human rights," states Mandy. "I recently received my Canadian census 2016 (http://www.census.gc.ca/ccr16_r000-eng.html) form and even though trans people nationwide have come out, paraded and gone to court to fight for our right to be acknowledged and recognized, Statistics Canada (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html) still does  not think we are important enough to be counted."

Mandy has checked with Statistics Canada and transgender Canadians can be heard by not checking male or female on their census form or by leaving the sex field blank online and repeatedly hitting the "next" button until it bypasses the field. It is then essential to fill out the comment section at the end of the form with your gender of choice. Mandy recommends that your comments read something like this:

I opted to leave question e-two blank as I identify as [insert sex/gender identity or identities]. If you must, classify me as [pick one: female, male] for analysis and update the 2021 Census to be completely non-binary and to have a third and fourth gender/sex category.

"Bypassing the gender question with an explanation is not good enough," Mandy adds. "Neither is adding a category for "other".   I am not an "other", I am "transgender" or simply a person not living as a woman but living as a trans woman.  For the census to really know how many of us exist, they must add the options of "Transgender" or "T" or "other" for people who choose no specific gender, or are born both."

If an employee from Statistics Canada calls or visits your home, explain why you chose not to fill in the gender option and that you have made your comments on the form as instructed by Statistics Canada.If they insist that you pick a binary sex box, they can be reported to STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca or by calling 1-800-263-1136 with their name, location, date, and why  you are reporting them.

The deadline to complete the census is Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

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Mandy Goodhandy is available for interviews.

For additional information, or interview requests, please contact:

Peter Ashworth  or Ashley Lloyd | Ashworth Associates

416-603-6005 | peter@ashworthassociates.com | ashley@ashworthassociates.com