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Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, Canada’s oldest rape crisis centre, has been stripped of city funding after refusing to rescind its policy of only serving female-born women.

In a statement, the organization said they were the victim of “discrimination against women in the name of inclusion” and accused Vancouver City Council of trying to “coerce us to change our position.”

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Meanwhile, the measure was cheered by activists who have long singled out Vancouver Rape Relief as a bastion of “trans-exclusionary” behaviour.

After the vote, Vancouver city councillor Christine Boyle posted a tweet to her account accusing the organization of “supporting transphobia.”

“Trans women are women and sex work is work … I can’t support (organizations) who exclude them,” Boyle wrote in an accompanying note.