Which countries are "Safe" for (trans) women?

[Tills]

All true.  On the other hand, returning to the alleged topic of this thread, Calgary is in Alberta, which has a trumpist government and is hostile to trans people. 

Oh gosh. I didn't know that

What about B.C.?

[Tills]

p.s. I feel it's okay to discuss the merits of these places beyond their trans-friendliness.

Somewhere like New Zealand for instance, if anyone is considering emigrating there because it is (or was) trans friendly, you need to consider a range of other factors besides.

Do we actually have anyone in NZ on this forum?

[Tills]

Meanwhile things seem to be getting worse for LGBTQ in Africa, and are blaming it on the US:

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/16/africa/africa-lgbtq-climate-worsening-intl 🔗

[Robbyv213]

Oh gosh. I didn't know that

What about B.C.?

I'm not sure about b.c. but I have a few friends from Toronto, and they say that Toronto seems to have the largest lgbtqia community, which makes sense but it's also extremely expensive to live there.

[Jillian-TG]

All true.  On the other hand, returning to the alleged topic of this thread, Calgary is in Alberta, which has a trumpist government and is hostile to trans people. 

Hmmmm. That is an interesting assessment. Now I have to prefix my assessment with the fact that I live in Ontario near Toronto so I'm very far from Alberta. But I would respectfully disagree with what you said.

Yes in Canadian terms Alberta is conservative but a Canadian conservative is nothing compared to a republican American conservative. I'm obviously generalizing here. Every Canadian province is welcoming to LGBTQ people but just some are more welcoming than others. I would argue that Canada's "worst case scenario" province (Alberta) would be better and safer than America's safest states.

No country is perfect and every place has their one-eyed religious red necks (and yes Alberta has more than other parts of Canada) but overall I would count all of Canada as fairly safe for all LGBTQ people.

Most Canadians are non confrontational and very accepting of people.

I would not be concerned living in Alberta and especially a city like Calgary. 

[KathyLauren]

What about B.C.?

BC is weird politically.  They oscillate between socialist and right-wing governments.  On the whole, though, it is pretty liberal.  Vancouver is known as the destination of urban hippies, and Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are the destination of rural hippies.  So it is a pretty groovy place.  (Y'all can tell I'm a boomer, right?   )

I think Jillian and I will have to agree to disagree about Alberta.  The government there has recently banned 160 books from school libraries for (mostly) having LGBTQ content.  They are exempting themselves from the Canadian Charter of Rights (in other words, they are intentionally violating the intent of the Charter) in order to ban puberty blockers and hormone treatments for trans minors, force schools to out trans students to their parents, and prohibit trans girls from participating in girls' sports.  There are definitely places in the US that are not that bad yet.

[Tills]

[...]
Most Canadians are non confrontational and very accepting of people.

I would not be concerned living in Alberta and especially a city like Calgary. 

Well, I've mentioned previously on this forum that my late brother, who was gay, was treated to some disgusting homophobic abuse on a holiday tour to Vietnam ... by a Canadian couple.

Not wanting to appear to disagree with your very positive outlook Jillian but as, I think it was @KathyLauren replied at the time, you can encounter bigotry anywhere and unfortunately it's on the increase.

[Robbyv213]

I guess specifically for Canada which is the best path to become a citizen? is it better to try to get a work visa and come over, or try for asylum, or student visa?

[KathyLauren]

I guess specifically for Canada which is the best path to become a citizen? is it better to try to get a work visa and come over, or try for asylum, or student visa?

A work visa is for people coming here temporarily to work, and a student visa is for people coming temporarily to study.  Neither is intended for immigration, and it may be difficult to apply for immigrant status using them.

A claim of asylum is not impossible, despite some rumours to the contrary, but it would be exceptionally difficult for US residents.  The burden of proof would be on the claimant to demonstrate that there is literally nowhere in the country of origin that is safe.  While things are bad in the US and getting worse, it is not yet at the point where such a claim would be obvious.

The proper route for immigration is to apply for landed immigrant status.  The qualifications are not easy and will be out of reach for some people.  I don't know the details off the top of my head, but you will find them on the Immigration Canada website that I linked to earlier.  Landed immigrant is for people wanting to be permanent residents, and is the normal path to becoming a naturalized citizen.

New legislation opens up citizenship to anyone who can document a direct line of descent from a Canadian citizen.  If you can prove that a great-grandparent was a citizen, then your grandparent, parent and yourself are also automatically citizens.  The hard part is collecting the proof, which usually involves birth certificates.