Many Canadians oppose gender-neutral birth certificates: poll
Posted July 7, 2017 10:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Following reports a baby in BC may be the first in the world to have a gender-neutral identification card, it looks like most Canadians don’t like the idea.
“People are not necessarily fully on board with and we do see a level of opposition about 60 per cent across the country,” explains Shachi Kurl with the Angus Reid Institute that recently polled people about this issue. “When it comes to a birth certificate that’s something that the parents are making a decision on and it could be that people simply say or people are of the opinion that that is a decision that somebody should be making later in life and not in infancy.”
She adds 58 per cent of Canadians say they are against the idea of issuing gender-neutral birth certificates for those who want them and the division lies more in an age gap. “The younger you are the more likely you are to say that this is something that’s fine and something you support. You older you are particularly men over the age of 55, less comfortable e about this idea.”
The latest numbers come following the case in BC and as the Ontario government announced plans to develop a gender-neutral option for birth certificates.
The survey also found most people are against the idea of allowing people in their home province to opt for something other than an “M” or “F” on their birth certificates, while roughly half say allowing gender-neutral identification of any type is a “bad thing.”
