Wednesday night the House of Commons passed C-279, a bill that provides human rights protections to transgender Canadians. Since its introduction over a year ago, critics have reduced it to the "Bathroom Bill", a distorted characterization of what is truly important domestic human rights legislation. This legislation not only carries great symbolic value, but would also produce three substantive and practical effects to help reduce the frequency of discrimination and violence against transgendered Canadians. Moreover, there is precedent for the use of the term "gender identity" in Canadian provincial as well as international contexts.

OTTAWA - A bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against transgender Canadians was approved by the House of Commons on Wednesday.The Opposit...

UPDATE: This is a corrected story. Eighteen Conservatives supported the bill. An earlier version said 16 voted in favour. OTTAWA - A bill that woul...