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Michael Higgins: Human rights tribunal seeks to bully and punish trans heretics

$750,000 fine for questioning gender ideology is extremely chilling

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A ruling by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal which imposed a penalty of $750,000 on a trans heretic is as chilling in its implication as it is draconian in its punishment. 

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The extraordinary judgement creates a hierarchy of beliefs in that if a person says they are transgender then everyone is obliged to believe them, regardless of any skepticism. To do otherwise is to deny their existence, says the tribunal. 

Michael Higgins: Human rights tribunal seeks to bully and punish trans heretics Back to video

The ruling has all the hallmarks of the Spanish Inquisition: a government-sanctioned body seeking to compel people to conform to a certain orthodoxy on pain of punishment. The tribunal isn’t yet using the Iron Maiden but by imposing such a large cash award the financial pain is considerable and punitive. 

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The man at the centre of the case, Barry Neufeld, was ordered to pay compensation of $750,000 to be distributed among the LGBTQ members of the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association, the group that complained about him. 

The tribunal claims that it is balancing the rights of free expression against the evils of hate and discrimination. The judgement, however, is heavily weighted in finding Neufeld guilty, but when it comes to freedom of speech the “fix” is in early. 

The ruling says that merely denying the existence of trans people is not, on its own, hate speech. But it says, “speech which denies the authentic existence of trans and gender diverse people bears a hallmark of hate against them.” 

In essence, if a Canadian now questions whether someone is transgender, then the ground has already been prepared for them to be accused of hateful and/or discriminatory conduct. 

By creating a hierarchy of beliefs, the tribunal is setting a dangerous and chilling precedent. 

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Early in its judgement, the tribunal states, “Transpeople are, by definition, people ‘whose gender identity does not align with the sex assigned to them at birth.’ If a person elects not to ‘believe’ that gender identity is separate from sex assigned at birth, then they do not ‘believe’ in transpeople. 

“This is a form of existential denial.” 

With this bald statement, the tribunal clearly demonstrates its bias. Obviously the tribunal is going to be prejudiced against a person who expresses skepticism towards gender identity, or transgenderism, since that person is already guilty of denying another person’s existence. 

You may disagree with him, and lots of people do, but it’s important to understand these discussions are happening among professionals in other countries; it is only Canada that has decided they are unreasonable, even dangerous.

Neufeld, who has a degree in adolescent psychology that led him to working as a corrections, probation and restorative justice facilitation officer, often working with sex offenders, was an elected trustee of the Chilliwack Board of Education when he made statements which clearly reveal he had issues with gender identity. Some people may even think his views legitimate. 

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In 2016, the B.C. government amended its human rights code to include “gender identity or expression” as protected grounds from discrimination. The Ministry of Education then directed schools and boards of education to update their codes of conduct to address bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity (known as SOGI 1 2 3 ). 

“The backlash to SOGI 1 2 3 was immediate. One of its loudest critics was the Respondent, Barry Neufeld,” said the tribunal. 

Neufeld “engaged in a high-profile public campaign against SOGI 1 2 3 and the values underlying it” in “social media posts, as well as in statements made in Board meetings, rallies and interviews,” said the ruling.

Neufeld called SOGI 1 2 3 a “weapon of propaganda” which threatened “traditional family values” and instructed children about the “absurd theory” that “gender is not biologically determined, but a social construct.”  

“This ‘lie’, he warned, alienates children from their parents and primes them for sexual abuse,” said the ruling. 

It was for making such statements that the tribunal found Neufeld guilty of 24 instances of discrimination. He was found not guilty of six others. 

It also found that in six instances he had exposed lesbians, gays and transpeople to hatred and contempt.  

An example of one of those instances was a Facebook post where Neufeld claimed society was slouching toward Gomorrah and encouraged people to push back against the “powerful” LGBTQ “lobby group”. He also called being gender fluid “delusional thinking,” accused LGBTQ groups of portraying themselves as downtrodden victims and that the increasingly long list of letters after LGBTQ designated a new “caste system.” 

The tribunal found these views so toxic and harmful that it felt the need to warn people: “We caution the reader that this decision reproduces Mr. Neufeld’s discriminatory statements. Reading them may be difficult for some readers.” 

Neufeld’s other sins included “calling transness gender ideology” thus allowing “anti-trans activists to hide behind a veneer of reasonableness” later attacked as an “insidious veneer” by the tribunal. 

Neufeld was also castigated for warning about the dangers of “gender affirming medical treatment for children (including puberty blockers, hormones, or surgery). 

“Allowing children to choose their gender is nothing short of child abuse,” the tribunal quoted him as saying. 

Such a warning could not go unpunished. 

“He spreads alarm and misinformation about gender affirming recognition and care for trans kids, especially in public schools,” said the tribunal. “Contrary to Mr. Neufeld’s view, gender affirming recognition and care for trans and gender diverse children is life saving.” 

What the tribunal is trying to do with this poisonous judgement is to quell all discussion and debate around trans issues.  

To even say that there is a “gender ideology” to be debated appears to be discriminatory.  

To question the value and legitimacy of giving “gender diverse” children surgery is apparently off limits. 

To believe that there are only two sexes is to deny the existence of trans people, itself a hallmark of hatred and prejudice. 

In Canada’s brave new world, the people are being cowed into silence by ideological tribunals who care nothing for free speech. 

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