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Pasquale Turbide vs. transgender people

Pasquale Turbide is a Canadian writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

According to Radio-Canada, Pasquale Turbide covers “justice, health, ethics, mistreatment and education.” 

In 2018 Turbide reported an episode of EnquĂȘte titled “D’abord ne pas nuire” [“First do no harm”], about an experimental treatment for children diagnosed with advanced cancers. Turbide covered it like an unfolding medical scandal, which served as the template for similar 2024 coverage of trans healthcare for youth.

2024 EnquĂȘte report

On February 29, 2024, Turbide reported an episode of EnquĂȘte titled “Trans Express” featuring conservative and anti-trans activists from around the world. The piece was directed by Gabriel Allard Gagnon and hosted by Marie-Maude Denis.

The show was aired by the ICI Télé arm of CBC/Radio-Canada, where it was promoted thus:

Medical gender transition among minors: is Quebec moving too fast?

What to do with your body when you doubt your gender? In Quebec, the transaffirmative approach is popular: we accompany adolescents to the destination of their choice. Puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries, it is up to them, after evaluation, to decide. What doesn’t happen, sometimes, without regrets. Nor without risks either.

EnquĂȘte (2024)

Turbide was given access to an anti-trans conference by Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine and interviewed several attendees and invited speakers active in attempting to control or restrict trans healthcare for youth and young adults:

Gender diverse people Turbide also interviewed include:

  • “Clara” (regretful teen transitioner diagnosed with BPD) and parents “François” and “Suzie”
  • “Antoine” (parent of teen “AmĂ©lie” who was offered puberty blockade at 15, but family refused, stating that “AmĂ©lie” was anorexic and had BPD)
  • Jane (regretful teen transitioner who experienced a sexual assault, mastectomy at 18)
  • Elios (happily transitioned teen – not revealed until final minutes)

Other people featured include:

  • Annie Pullen Sansfaçon – Gender Creative Kids Canada: supports affirmative model of care
  • Françoise Susette – L’institut pour la santĂ© trans: supports affirmative model of care

2024 Tout le monde en parle appearance

Turbide promoted the episode on Tout le monde en parle [Everyone is talking about it] on March 3, 2024. This how that show described it:

In a report broadcast on the program EnquĂȘte, journalist Pasquale Turbide looked at cases of young adolescents oriented perhaps too quickly towards a gender transition. Suzie is the mother of one of these young people who, after completing her transition, realized that perhaps people had been wrong about her.

The EnquĂȘte show is broadcast on ICI TĂ©lĂ©. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/enquete/site

The Trans express report is online on the show’s website. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/enquete/site/episodes/864008/episode-du-jeudi-29-fevrier-2024

In addition

Investigation secrets with Marie-Maude Denis: Trans Express https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/tout-un-matin/segments/rattrapage/481434/secrets-denquete-avec-marie-maude-denis-trans-express

Gender transition of minors: too easy access? https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/premiere-heure/segments/entrevue/481432/transition-genre-mineur-chirurgie-enfant

A new gender identity policy in Alberta https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/phare-ouest/segments/entrevue/474708/regles-transgenres-alberta-loi

Florida elected officials block gender transition treatments for minors. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1977121/floride-transition-genre-mineurs-interdiction

Support group for parents of trans children in Thunder Bay launched. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/jonction-11-17/segments/entrevue/424621/parents-enfants-trans-thunder-bay-paula-haapanen

Tout le monde en parle (2024)

Reactions

Anti-trans activists were thrilled with the episode.

Law professor Florence Ashley said, “Radio-Canada jumping on the moral panic train by making a whole documentary platforming anti-trans views in the middle of an unprecedented rise in legal persecution towards trans people in Canada. Beyond disappointing. They should be ashamed.”

Anthropologist Rine Vieth said, “J’aimerais savoir pourquoi @iciradiocanada pense qu’il est appropriĂ© de faire un documentaire avec des gens de la SEGM, Lisa Littman (de l’étude ROGD rĂ©futĂ©e) et d’autres qui ont Ă©tĂ© montrĂ©s comme faisant de la mauvaise science. Il semble Ă©galement qu’un professeur de mon dĂ©partement de doctorat, qui m’a harcelĂ© ainsi que d’autres personnes transgenres, se trouve ici. Les anthropologues doivent se mobiliser, je suis fatiguĂ©.

Activist Fae Johnstone said, “What the fuck, CBC?”

Jurist Celeste Trianon said, “By further platforming anti-trans junk science, Radio-Canada is granting a voice of authority to these bad faith actors who are attempting to erase us, to dehumanize us, to eliminate us from public life.”

On March 12-13 the windows of Radio-Canada were smashed by protesters, who released a statement:

Let’s not be fooled by the pretense of journalistic neutrality and “simple curiosity”: Pasquale Turbide and the Radio-Canada team have chosen to give the floor to discredited pseudo-experts, like Lisa Littman and the SEGM. Their alarmist speeches have already been linked to an increase in violence in England and in the US. The reporter refuses to do any real research or understanding effort. In the report, she uses transphobic and disrespectful language, and constantly misgenders trans people. Even the passages that pretend to recognize trans realities do so within a framework of psychiatrization of transidentity, inviting more medical control from the state. We do not want the state’s control on our bodies! Everyone should be able to experiment as they see fit, even if it means making mistakes, without having to ask permission from the state’s watchdogs. We will do what we wish with our bodies, rightly or wrongly, no matter how the state and the cultural petty bourgeoisie feel about it.

Anonymous (2024)

References

Turbide, Pasquale (October 4, 2018). Primum non nocere – D’abord ne pas nuire. EnquĂȘte https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/enquete/site/segments/reportage/88505/hopital-sainte-justine-recherche-enfants-cancer-protocole-pasquale-turbide

Dzsurdzsa, Cosmin (March 14, 2024). Radio-Canada journalist defends report on medical transitioning of teens. True North https://tnc.news/2024/03/14/journalist-defends-medical-transitioning-teens/

(March 3, 2024). Transitions de genre : trop jeune et trop vite? Tout le monde en parle https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/tout-le-monde-en-parle/site/segments/entrevue/481843/transition-genre-trans-adolescence-sante

Anonymous (March 17, 2024). Radio-Canada a du sang sur les mains : retour sur les vitrines dĂ©truites dans la nuit du 12 au 13 mars. [Radio-Canada has blood on its hands: a look back at the windows destroyed on the night of March 12 to 13.] MontrĂ©al Contre-Information https://mtlcontreinfo.org/radio-canada-a-du-sang-sur-les-mains-retour-sur-les-vitrines-detruites-dans-la-nuit-du-12-au-13-mars/

Media

Turbide, Pasquale (March 1, 2024). Trans express. EnquĂȘte Radio-Canada Info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNOsxpP2ow

Resources

Radio-Canada (radio-canada.ca)

  • Pasquale Turbide
  • ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/enquete/site/complements/artisans/5170/journaliste-bio-pasquale-turbide-contact

IMDb (imdb.com)