rabble blogs are the personal pages of some of Canada's most insightful progressive activists and commentators. All opinions belong to the writer; however, writers are expected to adhere to our guidelines. We welcome new bloggers -- contact us for details.

Dented Blue Mercedes

Mercedes Allen is a graphic designer and advocate for transsexual and transgender communities in Alberta. She writes on equality, human rights, LGBT and sexual minority issues in Canada, and the cross-border pollination of far-right spin. She blogs at Dented Blue Mercedes and operates a trans information website at http://www.albertatrans.org/

Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes September 18
Support trans youth, say pediatricians
Mercedes Allen | The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement affirming support for transgender and gender-diverse youth and emphasizing the need for their acceptance.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes December 6
Photo: wiredforlego​/Flickr
Free speech is not a neutral proposition with equal enfranchisement
Mercedes Allen | By telling their stories and asserting themselves as authorities on their own experiences, trans* people have already changed the debate. As a result, opponents have weaponized free speech.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes December 4
Photo: Adobe Stock, with modification by author
Navigating free speech when the 'debate' is you, and you're not invited
Mercedes Allen | There's a duplicitous game of sleight-of-hand that is taking place in discussions about freedom of speech in academia and the public square.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes May 31
What the 'Walk on the Wild Side' controversy says about trans* awareness and a changing social movement
Mercedes Allen | How the controversy surrounding the song "Walk on the Wild Side" reflects the changes that take place as a social movement -- in this case, trans* activism -- matures.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes October 23
Flickr/Patrick Stahl
Free speech and the cruel shackles of empathy and mutual respect
Mercedes Allen | A nuanced dissection of UofT professor Jordan Peterson's campaign against trans* people in the name of free speech.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes July 15
A trans woman's perspective on the disconnect between law enforcement and marginalized communities
Mercedes Allen | Black Lives Matter Toronto's stand brings to mind an odd experience a few years ago, which taught me a lot about the nature of the interplay between authorities and marginalized, policed communities.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes June 23
Image: Flickr/Judit Klein
Canada's forthcoming 'drop your pants' trans blood donation policy
Mercedes Allen | Oh, you don't have to literally drop your pants. Canadian Blood Services doesn't actually want to see your junk (I assume) -- they just want to know what's there. Because that's not invasive at all.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes May 4
Photo: Facebook/Raz Dee
Here's how you can help as the Fort McMurray fires continue to rage (updated)
Mercedes Allen | Our thoughts are with everyone who has evacuated the region.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes April 20
Indiana put the lie to 'religious freedom.' But Canadian Evangelicals hope you didn't notice.
Mercedes Allen | Everyone's familiar with the old adage, "be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it." Which is why Canadian Evangelical leaders might do well to remember Indiana.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes February 26
Canada's trans* rights bill now endorses washroom bans
Mercedes Allen | Canada's trans* human rights bill C-279 was amended by a Senate committee, in a way that makes it legal to ban trans* people from washrooms and gendered spaces.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes January 4
Leelah Alcorn's suicide demands respect of kids', not parents', rights
Mercedes Allen | What a 17-year-old trans* Ohio teenager's suicide says about the debate over LGBT-inclusive education and GSAs in Canada.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes December 4
Image: Flickr/jglsongs
How to legislatively 'balance' human rights: You can't.
Mercedes Allen | Alberta's Bill 10 demonstrates why you can't try to balance human rights classes using legislation.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes November 2
BDSM, Gender, Entitlement and Jian Ghomeshi
Mercedes Allen | Believing women is the first part of the discussion about Jian Ghomeshi. If you believe women, then you must also take a harder look at gender, power exchange and entitlement.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes October 29
Sodom: Review of a Russian anti-gay documentary
Mercedes Allen | Peter LaBarbera returns to Canada, and his copy of Sodom, the Russian anti-LGBT documentary, is seized. I review it, and yes, it is triggery.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes August 4
Photo: Adrian Clark/flickr
On conscience-based medical exemptions
Mercedes Allen | The experiences of trans* people in Alberta with conscience-based medical exemptions provide insight for a conscience policy review in Ontario.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes June 11
C-36: Conflating sex work with human trafficking
Mercedes Allen | Anti-prostitution Bill C-36 explicitly puts sex work on the same footing as human trafficking and conflates the two in law. There are serious issues with doing so.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes June 10
Photo: flickr/Kaytee Riek
Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act: An overview
Mercedes Allen | Concerned about the five primary provisions of anti-prostitution Bill C-36? Here's an overview of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes June 9
Photo: flickr/Antonella Beccaria
Could anti-prostitution Bill C-36 also ban porn?
Mercedes Allen | The vague nature of "sexual services," the Internet as a "public place" and other aspects raise questions about anti-prostitution Bill C-36. Could it ban porn?
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes April 3
'Fair elections' and ending impartial voter drives
Mercedes Allen | What's more jaw-dropping is the Harper government's position: that it was important to end impartial voter drives in favour of clearly partisan ones.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes March 13
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Six answers for the public consultation on sex work
Mercedes Allen | An open response to the Department of Justice Public Consultation on sex work, which closes March 17, 2014.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes March 7
On the Detention of Trans People
Mercedes Allen | Treatment of trans people (particularly trans women) in detention facilities has come under examination recently. There's a solution, it's just a question of whether there is the will to examine it.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes March 6
Across the left divide over sex work.
Mercedes Allen | Some important distinctions about the divisions among the left and among womens' rights groups over sex work
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes December 20
Uganda passes its Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Mercedes Allen | Uganda has passed its Anti-Homosexuality Bill. It now goes to Ugandan President Yowari Museveni, for a signature.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes December 16
The difficulties in remembering Rosa
Mercedes Allen | In the early morning hours of November 24th, the body of a possibly trans person was found in Edmonton, Alberta.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes December 2
Janice Raymond, and healing old wounds
Mercedes Allen | A collection of thoughts on how to heal the old wounds that exist between trans and womens' movements.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes October 24
Trans kids, washrooms and the new harassment
Mercedes Allen | A sensational story is circulating about girls being harassed by a trans youth in the washroom of a Colorado-area school. Except it isn't true.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes October 9
Leaving High River
Mercedes Allen | Three months from the day that my partner and I were first evacuated due to flooding, we were leaving High River.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes August 13
Photo: wikipedia commons
REAL Women of Canada, and the naked far-right truth
Mercedes Allen | When R.E.A.L. Women of Canada's Gwen Landolt condemned support for LGBT human rights in Russia and Uganda, she exposed the truth about far right attitudes
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes July 26
Porn opt-ins, soft censorship and 'buttbuttinating' personal responsibility
Mercedes Allen | Conservative MP Joy Smith has promised to push PM Harper to implement a national opt-in requirement on porn, but the idea is fraught with problems and consequences.
Blog - Dented Blue Mercedes June 12
Nova Scotia extends health care coverage for gender reassignment surgery
Mercedes Allen | The Nova Scotia government has promised to extend health care funding coverage for gender reassignment surgery.

Pages