Enza Anderson (born 1964) is a Canadian journalist, media personality, Ontario politician, and
transgender rights
The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...
activist.
Early life and education
Anderson was born in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
.
Assigned male at birth
Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the v ...
,
she grew up in Toronto, living near
Jane and Finch with an Italian-Catholic father.
She initially attended
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
to study
geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
but left due to a combination of lack of interest in the subject and her mother becoming sick. After a one-year hiatus, she attended
Seneca College
Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, branded as Seneca Polytechnic since 2023, is a multi-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccala ...
where she studied civil engineering and technologies.
Early career
After graduation she worked as the quality control supervisor of a concrete pipe-manufacturing plant, but was laid off after five years. She then worked part-time as a bartender at
Woody's.
In 1995 she got a job at a hair salon on
Yonge Street
Yonge Street ( ') is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...
, which called for her to hand out flyers for the salon to pedestrians in
drag. It was during that job that a photo of her kissing then-mayor
Mel Lastman
Melvin Douglas Lastman (March 9, 1933 – December 11, 2021) was a Canadian businessman and politician who served as the third mayor of North York from 1973 to 1997 and the 62nd mayor of Toronto from 1998 to 2003. He was the first person to s ...
ended up on the front cover of the ''
Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...
'',
marking the start of her career in the public eye.
Anderson wrote a social column, "The Hot Ticket", for Canada's highest circulated free daily newspaper, ''
Metro Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an Regional municipality, upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and vill ...
''. She also divides her work schedule at the
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...
assisting clients as a financial services manager.
Politics
In 2000, Anderson ran for
mayor of Toronto
The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...
. Although the eventual winner of that campaign, Mel Lastman, won over 80% of the vote, Anderson garnered 13,585 votes, placing third behind Lastman and
Tooker Gomberg. She was one of the few candidates besides Lastman, Gomberg and
Ben Kerr to gain widespread name recognition in the race, even though her campaign largely consisted of standing on downtown street corners with a handmade placard bearing the slogan "A Super City Deserves a Super Model!".
[
In 2002, Anderson ran for the leadership of the ]Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...
. She was unable to raise the $25,000 required by the party to register as a candidate, and dropped out of the race before the convention which ultimately chose Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
.
In the 2003 municipal election in Toronto, Anderson ran for a city council seat against incumbent Kyle Rae and placed second, though she was not considered to be a serious threat against him.
She ran and lost in the same ward in the 2010 municipal election.
Media
Anderson has a column in the Toronto newspaper '' Metro'', covering local entertainment and party gossip since 2004, after she pitched the idea of her doing a column to the editor-in-chief, bringing a mocked-up version of one of her articles complete with ''Metro'' banner.[ She was also a fully clothed guest interviewer in the male version of '']Naked News
''Naked News'' is a Canadian news and entertainment program owned by Naked Broadcasting Network. It features nude female news presenters reading news bulletins derived from news wires. The show's production studio is located in Toronto. There a ...
''.
She was the subject of a 2003 documentary by Carlos Valencia named ''A Man in a Dress'', and was also interviewed speaking about her spirituality
The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
on Vision TV's ''Credo''. In 2015 Enza was the feature of her second documentary "...When The Bullying Ends" which was selected to screen at the 2016 Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival in India. Directed by queer filmmaker Raymond Helkio tells the story her work as an anti-bullying and queer rights activist.
Anderson was chosen as grand marshal of Toronto's 2008 Pride Parade
A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...
.
Community activism
Anderson served as a board member of the Church and Wellesley Neighbourhood Police Liaison Committee. Her two years as Pride Committee Co-chair of Fundraising helped raise record amounts needed to cover festival costs. She put in many fundraising hours for the AIDS Committee of Toronto and its signature fundraising event Fashion Cares. Anderson helped bring awareness of support groups like the People With AIDS Foundation and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Youth Support Line.[, Halton Pride] She also served on the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations.[ She also serves on the LGBT Consultative Committee-Toronto Police Service.]
References
External links
*
Enza Anderson - Field Reporter
for NakedNewsDailyMale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Enza
1964 births
Living people
Canadian columnists
Canadian LGBTQ people in municipal politics
Canadian people of Italian descent
Journalists from Toronto
Canadian LGBTQ journalists
Canadian LGBTQ rights activists
Ontario municipal politicians
Politicians from Toronto
Seneca College alumni
LGBTQ media personalities
Transgender women politicians
Transgender journalists
Transgender women writers
Canadian transgender writers
Canadian transgender politicians
Canadian women columnists
Writers from Toronto
Canadian media personalities
Canadian women non-fiction writers
21st-century Canadian politicians
21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers
21st-century Canadian women writers
21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
21st-century Canadian journalists
Canadian transgender women
21st-century Canadian women journalists