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If you live in Southern Ontario, you may have seen a billboard or bus ad like these in your local communities. Our goal with these billboards was to bring attention to the issue of medical transitioning for minors and garner support for the campaign to ban medical transitioning for minors.
And they’ve certainly gotten attention!
Everything started back in December when a local group collected money, negotiated a contract, and put up LetKidsBe.ca bus ads in the city of London. Those ads received a lot of attention from the media and from pro-transitioning groups. The London Free Press, CBC, and CTV covered the bus ads in some fashion, with a heavy bias against the ads and in favour of medical transitioning for minors.
The London Transit Commission (LTC), having previously lost a court challenge to the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada (the creator of LetKidsBe.ca), kept the ads up despite pressure to remove them. LTC Chair Stephanie Marentette said LTC could not reject the ad because doing so would violate freedom of expression. “Unless something is egregious or amounting to hate speech. that would trigger an exception. Unfortunately we don’t have the ability to arbitrate what types of ads go on the side of our buses. This is something we don’t have a lot of control over, the Supreme Court is the highest court in the country.”
But this action inspired more action.
A local group of Let Kids Be supporters in Hamilton wanted to see this message featured on a billboard on the Lincoln Alexander Parkway, a high-traffic expressway for commuters. Procuring such a prime location was an expensive endeavour, but they managed to raise the funds, and the electronic billboards in Hamilton went up on Monday, August 4th.
That Friday, August 8th, the Hamilton Trans Health Coalition posted a warning on Facebook about the billboard, labelling it “disinformation,” “a harmful message,” and “an attempt at this [anti-trans] politicization.” Late that evening, Hamilton mayor Andrea Horwath, the former leader of the Ontario NDP, posted the following message on X:
“This afternoon, my office was made aware of a transphobic ad on a billboard along the Linc.
While the billboard is not City-owned, it sits on City-leased space, and City advertising rules were not followed. We’ve directed Astral Media to remove it and put stronger safeguards in place.
Hate-related incidents are on the rise in Hamilton. In 2024, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community were among the most frequently targeted. But we are also a community that will not stand by when confronted by hate – I certainly will not.
Love will always be louder.”
Before the end of the day, Astral/Bell media took down the billboards.
Undeterred by this event in Hamilton, a group of Let Kids Be supporters in Niagara pressed on. After some investigation, they found an advertising company that had billboards on private land. Since putting up billboards on city-leased space enabled the City of Hamilton to get them taken down, they thought that placing a billboard on private land would ensure that it would remain up. They contacted Vann Advertising to erect three billboards. Two of the billboards were digital, located back-to-back along the QEW in St. Catharines, another high-traffic expressway. The third billboard, this one printed on vinyl, was in downtown St. Catharines.
The electronic billboards went up on Monday, August 25th, and the physical billboard was erected shortly thereafter.
The reaction was swift. Within days, the physical billboard was vandalized.
Pride Niagara called “on the City of St. Catharines to take urgent action against a transphobic billboard” and claimed that “this harmful and dehumanizing message spreads dangerous misinformation and creates an unsafe environment for trans and gender-diverse people in our community.” They encouraged people to reach out to Mayor Mat Siscoe and sent a letter to city hall themselves. Mayor Siscoe then called Vann Advertising, asking them to reconsider displaying the billboards. Furthermore, Vann Advertising received some aggressive messaging from LGBTQ activists. Worried about the viability of the company and its owners’ safety, Vann Advertising removed the billboards.
But that is not the end. A private billboard owner in Hamilton was willing to sell us digital billboard space in downtown Hamilton. More groups around the county are considering putting up Let Kids Be billboards in their local communities, and we are pursuing legal action to ensure that local governments do not violate the Charter right to the freedom of expression.
Ironically, the efforts of activists to censor these Let Kids Be ads have caused the call to stop medical transitioning for minors to reach far more people. Billboards are seen in passing only by those who happen to pass by them. But when they become the subject of a censorship battle which media reports on, their reach extends to many more people. People see the ad on their computers and phones, just a quick search away from the Let Kids Be website. And because our messaging is so clear, direct, and respectful, even media that are biased against us tend to report what the billboard said and often show the billboard itself. This respectful advocacy starkly contrasts with the disrespect shown by the other side when they vandalize a billboard.
So take heart. More and more Canadians are hearing the message that we need to stop medical transitioning for minors. If you or your local group want to sponsor a local Let Kids Be billboard, the graphics are available for you to use. The more billboards that go up, the more the message gets out!
But if you do participate in this endeavour, realize that erecting a billboard isn’t the end of the project. It is the beginning of a conversation. If a Let Kids Be billboard is up in your community, use that opportunity to encourage the billboard company to keep up the ad. Urge your local politicians to not interfere with private advertising. Petition your MPP/MLA and your MP to take action to ban medical transitioning for minors.