Legalised Vendettas

 Change my mind:

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

By creating a tribunal, you are setting a dangerous and chilling precedent, one where some unaccountable and unelected chair-moistener can cater to the whims of an emotionally stunted grifter who relies on such tribunals to not only pacify their tantrums but line their pockets, as well.