Controversial bus ads spark transgender rights protest

At a time when transgender rights are being threatened, a group of protesters in London spoke out against discriminatory ads on the LTC.
The London Transit Commission (LTC) recently posted ads on buses that read, “Let Kids be Kids” and “Put the brakes on medical transitions for minors.” These were paid for by an organization called The Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA).
These posters sparked intense controversy among transgender rights advocates and resulted in a full protest in downtown London outside of the LTC’s headquarters.
Nadine Lulu, a psychotherapist and activist was among those protesting the ads.
“Just like there were civil rights movements in the past that were about race or feminism, I believe that this is the most important civil rights movement of our time because trans rights are human rights,” Lulu said.
The aim of the protest was to raise money to pay to replace the ads with inclusive ones of their own.
“They had to raise quite a bit of money. And then the trans community put their own ads up, which was much more positive,” shared Lulu.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation reported that 2023 saw the highest number of anti-LGB, anti-trans, and gender-expansive hate crimes reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to date.
This also comes as newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump announced that as one of his first executive orders in office, the US will only recognize two sexes, male and female.
Despite this data coming from the US, it is not uncommon for hate to bleed over borders.
“Not just the trans community, it seems like Trump is very much trying to target all minority groups, all vulnerable people. And there’s definitely an element of what feels like superiority coming from his administration,” Lulu said.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party was recently asked about his thoughts on Trump’s orders in a CTV interview, where he said he was “not aware of any other genders” but male and female, but that the federal government should mind its own business.
“Historically speaking, Canada has sometimes followed the US in terms of the social trends and I’m just hoping that our separateness is going to be enough in order for us to fight the rhetoric that’s coming from the States that is so hurtful to so many people,” Lulu said.
During the trans rights protest that took place in London earlier this month, Lulu recalled receiving mostly an outpouring of love from passersby, but that’s not to say hate was non-existent.
“We noticed a lot of cars that were going past would be honking their horns, waving, giving us a high five, thumbs up, power to the people-type symbols…There were a couple people that would give us the finger or whatever, but it was certainly the minority, not the majority,” Lulu said.