Posted on 02/11/2014 6:20:10 PM PST by rickmichaels
TORONTO - Authorities are holding a British comedian and transgender woman who lived in Toronto for a time in a men’s prison in Milton.
Avery Edison, who has legally been a woman since 2009, was detained Monday at Pearson International Airport when she tried to enter the country to see her girlfriend, Romy Sugden, of Toronto.
After holding her for nearly 12 hours, Canada Border Services officers transferred Edison to Maplehurst Correctional Facility for men, Sugden said.
“Speaking with the officials at the prison was a very upsetting and fruitless experience,” she said. “They refused to refer to Avery as anything but ‘he’ or ‘him.’ They told me because ‘his’ genitals were male, ‘he’ would be in a men’s prison. That was Ontario law.”
Sugden said Edison overstayed her student visa on her last visit. She decided to go back to the U.K., where she lives, in September but wanted to return Monday for a visit.
“When she came back here, she knew it was possible she’d be deemed inadmissible,” Sugden said, not imagining Edison would end up in a men’s jail.
Sugden said a prison manager told her Edison is being kept out of the jail’s general population.
“I’m sure you can understand what would happen to her,” she said. “I think they recognize they don’t want to have a killed or badly beaten transgender woman on their hands. They have enough PR savvy for that at least.”
Calls to Canada Border Services Agency and Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney requesting comment were not returned by press time.
Greg Flood, spokesman for Ontario’s Ministry of Correctional Services, said he could not speak directly about Edison’s case, citing privacy concerns.
“The ministry is currently reviewing the situation and having discussions with the Canadian Border Services Agency regarding the status of the individual,” he said in an e-mail statement to the Toronto Sun.
Sugden visited Edison at the Milton jail Tuesday afternoon and described the short visit as “very emotional.”
“She’s holding up well — she’s a strong person,” Sugden said. “She’s in good spirits considering the circumstances.”
She said she has retained a lawyer to help get Edison transferred to a woman’s facility.
“We’re not asking for immigration laws to be bent or broken. We’re not asking for a visa ... Right now, we just want a woman out of a men’s prison.”
NDP MP Randall Garrison has called on Canada’s Conservative government to ensure Edison is transferred immediately to a women’s correctional facility.
A rally is planned at Queen’s Park Saturday at 2 p.m. to demand that the government free Edison.
“It’s not just her,” Sugden said. “I imagine a lot of trans people have similar experiences. Canada is just better than that.”
Avery Edison
“Transgender woman” means “man,” right?
Jail’m according to DNA.
I bet.
Does that mean he/she can- never mind it’s just to easy.
Thing of the PR nightmares if a man with his birth genitalia intact and operational was locked up behind bars in a women's prison and he raped/impregnated one of the women.
Hysteria can be spun both ways.
Guilty, no parole.
The pic of Cardin McKinney is for eyewash?
Put it in the kennel with the dogs they’re checking to see if they have rabies.
Actually, it’s neither.
Is it Bieber?
Pajama Boy’s Double!
“I’m sure you can understand what would happen to her,” she said.
HE is not a HER. You are ill and need to seek mental health care..
” Avery Edison, who has legally been a woman since 2009, was detained Monday at Pearson International Airport when she tried to enter the country to see her girlfriend, Romy Sugden, of Toronto. “
The fact that this concerns a transgendering individual is nothing compared to the fact that Canada is actually enforcing it’s immigration laws....
Can’t we be more like Canada concerning immigration please? Like all the Liberals say we should be more like Canada????
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