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Canada recently issued a travel advisory for people traveling to the United States. It was issued on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, to warn the LGBTQIA+ community travelers about the laws in some states of the US.
The advisory stated:
"Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQ+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws."
The 2S stands for two-spirit people. It was further stated in the advisory:
"Foreign laws and customs related to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) can be very different from those in Canada."
As people learned about this advisory, netizens began reacting to this. One social media user, @brianlilley, who is a political columnist for the Toronto Sun, shared a post about the advisory on Twitter and wrote:
Internet users outraged over Canada's latest travel advisory
Social media users are fuming over the latest advisory. Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a former foreign affairs minister, talked about this and said that she supports this update. However, social media users are fuming over it:
What made Canada release a travel advisory for the LGBTQIA+ community traveling to the US?
Recently, the US government said that hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community are on the rise. As such, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's resource page released a statement in which they said:
"Federal threat monitoring has shown that these threats are increasingly tied to hate groups and domestic violent extremists. LGBTQI+ Americans – especially transgender women and girls of color – have experienced disproportionately high rates of violence and hate crimes for decades."
On Tuesday, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters:
"Every Canadian government, very much including our government, needs to put at the centre of everything we do the interests and the safety of every single Canadian and of every single group of Canadians."
According to the Department of Homeland Security, around 20% of all the hate crimes reported in 2021 were majorly motivated by a link to sexual orientation. Kelley Robinson, the president of HRC, released a statement regarding this and said:
"The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived — they are real, tangible and dangerous."
Kelley Robinson said that there have been several cases of violence against LGBTQIA+ people and it has triggered a wave of increased homophobia and transphobia.
