Mark Carney defends engaging with Turkey despite its record on LGBTQ rights: "Engagement is not approval. There are very few countries in this world that have the standards of Canada, the rights of Canada, the conviction of Canada."

Even the questions that “passed” — the five that targeted immigrants for punitive measures — did so with less than what you might call a “clear” majority. The best-performing was the one calling, entirely needlessly, for proof of citizenship when voting, with a projected 58 per cent.

Low bone density in trans girls is not due to puberty or T blockers; it is mostly attributed to the extremely low levels of sports participation that they partake in. Only 12% of trans girl youth participate in an organised sport compared to 68% of non trans kids. Bone density varies greatly from each individual based on nutrition, sex, age, & race. African-Americans have higher bone densities than Caucasians & Hispanic people. Bone structure also varies greatly by individuals based on genetics. What does this mean? – Everybody has different bone densities and structures and there is simply too much variation to exclude someone trans or cis solely on the bases of that measurement. In summary, in this it is important to note that no one biological marker can be used as a proxy for the complex set of advantages and disadvantages that is attributed to individual performance. As a result, bodies (both cis and trans) must be looked at in a holistic way, and that their performance is a result of many interactive systems social and biological and not just the sum of discrete biological components. We should also note that outside of sports with defined weight categories, weight and height are not considered to be an unfair advantage, rather taking positions as examples of tolerable unfairness. This is despite height being highly predictive of not just lean body mass, but also in measuring maximal torque. The increased lever length attributed to skeletal frame (height) accounts for significant levels of the variation measured for both men and women. It is important to note that both male and female muscle mass are the same strength when comparing equivalent cross-sectional size or mass and total mass and cross section size both increase with height for both cis-men and cis-women. academic.oup.com/jcem/articl…

Grateful to Senator Manning (C), Newfoundland and Labrador, for speaking up in the Senate to ask the Government of Canada to Renew and Expand the Federal 2SLGBTQIA+ Action Plan.

Time to ban all sports betting ads. Problem gambling jumps. Via @CBCNews / @cbcdaveseglins cbc.ca/news/investigates/pro… #Bansportsbetting #PEI #cdnpoli #SenCA

The High Court of New Zealand has ruled a blanket ban on puberty blockers for trans youth in the country is unlawful. The regulation, due to take effect in December last year, would have prevented doctors from prescribing puberty blockers to new patients experiencing gender dysphoria or gender incongruence. But in a judgment handed down on Wednesday, the court found the Health Minister’s decision was unlawful and the regulations should be set aside. Justice Dale La Hood said it was “a discriminatory and disproportionate response” and there was “overwhelming clinical support” for the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria. "Youth requiring treatment for gender dysphoria/incongruence are being denied access to clinically appropriate medicine to which their peers have access for different conditions,” the judgment said. The Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) brought the case against the NZ Ministry of Health over the ban.

Albert Premier Danielle Smith said Ontario is sending 19 burn unit nurses and 5 OR nurses to Alberta to help care for injured soldiers from CFB Wainwright. Some victims have burns on 30% to 80% of their bodies and changing the dressings can take up to 2 hours, she said.

Texas was built by hope. By people who had no business believing — but believed anyway. To every Texan who’s ever wondered if anyone in power is paying attention: We are taking our state back. Because a little bit of hope is a dangerous thing.

Alberta votes overwhelmingly to remain part of Canada, projections suggest bbc.in/4eJibGi