Posted on 01/20/2002 11:51:11 AM PST by Mr. Burns
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal awarded a transsexual woman $7,500 for injury to her dignity and ordered a Vancouver rape crisis centre to allow transsexual females to counsel women who are victims of rape, in a decision handed down Friday.
The amount was the highest ever awarded by the tribunal, which rejected Vancouver Rape Relief Society's contention that a person who grew up as a male lacks the personal history and biological qualifications to properly address the concerns of rape victims who call its crisis lines.
Kimberly Nixon, 45, filed the complaint after she was ejected from an August 1995 training session put on by Vancouver Rape Relief to train new peer counsellors to work its phone lines.
She said rejection from the society's training program violated her right to equal treatment under the B.C. Human Rights Code.
In her decision, tribunal member Heather MacNaughton said Nixon was told by trainer Danielle Cormier that "a woman had to be oppressed since birth to be a volunteer at Rape Relief and that because she had lived as a man she could not participate."
Cormier's decision to question Nixon was based solely on her appearance, the decision says.
Nixon complained that the society's policy of restricting volunteer opportunities to women who were born female violates B.C.'s human rights code and that the society's refusal to employ her was also in violation of the code.
She testified she could empathize with rape victims
because she had been abused in a prior relationship with a man.
Nixon said she was devastated and humiliated upon being informed of the society's policy and felt it was a challenge to her status as a woman -- and that her rejection brought back all the bad feelings she had suffered during her abusive relationship and led her to contemplate suicide.
"The fact that they view me as a man was amazingly hurtful, because my whole life I had dealt with feelings around, and rejecting everything about being male, because that's not who I am," Nixon testified.
"It was very, I guess, damaging, the experience, to my sense of self and my identity of being female was undermined."
Nixon's lawyer, barbara findlay, said she is not surprised by the tribunal's decision and called it a landmark decision confirming some basic human rights which transsexual people may not have previously enjoyed.
"Acceptability and a general understanding of issues facing trans(gengered) people has really come a long way in the last three or four years," findlay said.
"I think this decision will mark the end of the worst kind of discrimination that trans people have faced."
MacNaughton found in her decision that Cormier did not intend her comments to be personal and that Cormier thought she was handling the situation appropriately and with respect.
But she noted that many transgendered women are able to "pass" as female without inquiry from partners or even medical doctors and that "it is only those transgendered women with what society has labelled as masculine features who would be subject to the confrontation Ms. Nixon experienced.
"Rape Relief discriminated on what it perceived, or believed, the life experience of Ms. Nixon had been, not on any actual knowledge of that experience."
She was subsequently accepted by the Battered Women's Support Services agency for training as a peer counsellor and did three months of crisis line work, and was described by BWSS as "superior" in her ability to assist callers.
She subsequently volunteered at a transition house for battered women who have mental health issues, and was described as a good worker at that venue as well.
Nixon was born male but testified she believed from early childhood that she was female, and had sex reassignment surgery in 1990.
A licensed pilot as well as a scratch golfer who won an amateur event this past summer and was a contender in several others, Nixon is in a heterosexual relationship where she co-parents a child.
She said she is relieved the case is finally over, and said it has been a difficult fight because she is a private person by nature.
"It has been a long, long haul and a very deeply hurtful process and it's somewhat validating," Nixon said. "I'm just very hopeful for others who may be affected by this decision in a positive way."
She is saddened that the society persists in its belief that its counsellors should be female from birth.
"I get the strong sense that they are still in denial and that they still don't understand the issue," Nixon said.
In a press release, the society responded that the tribunal "also recognized that Vancouver Rape Relief acted in good faith, meant no harm and recognized that Rape Relief workers believed they were respectful towards Ms. Nixon.
"As well, the Tribunal recognized that it is harmful to create a situation that would potentially silence a rape victim."
Society member Lee Lakeman said Vancouver Rape Relief has no regrets about defending the case.
"To Vancouver Rape Relief this is a test case in which we are defending the human right to women-only space. This case is about what Rape Relief sees as fundamental to our work -- the life experience of being treated as a woman."
Society co-counsel Christine Boyle, a professor of the University of B.C. law faculty, noted the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission came to a different conclusion last year in a case involving transsexual women counselling biological females in prison.
"In that case it was recognized that the difficulties female inmates in correctional facilities have in dealing with men are based in part on painful life experience. So should the significance of life experience for raped and battered women be acknowledged by law."
B.C. Human Rights Commission deputy chief commissioner Harinder Mahil supported Nixon's claim before the Tribunal.
"The ruling in this case reaffirms that assumptions about transsexual women do not provide a basis for excluding them from acceptance as women in all facets of their lives," Mahil said Friday.
The highest previous Tribunal award for injury to dignity was $6,500.
because she had been abused in a prior relationship with a man.
Nixon said she was devastated and humiliated upon being informed of the society's policy and felt it was a challenge to her status as a woman -- and that her rejection brought back all the bad feelings she had suffered during her abusive relationship and led her to contemplate suicide.
"The fact that they view me as a man was amazingly hurtful, because my whole life I had dealt with feelings around, and rejecting everything about being male, because that's not who I am," Nixon testified. "It was very, I guess, damaging, the experience, to my sense of self and my identity of being female was undermined."
Nixon's lawyer, barbara findlay said she is not surprised by the tribunal's decision and called it a landmark decision confirming some basic human rights which transsexual people may not have previously enjoyed.
"Acceptability and a general understanding of issues facing trans [gengered] people has really come a long way in the last three or four years," she said. "I think this decision will mark the end of the worst kind of discrimination that trans people have faced."
MacNaughton found in her decision that Cormier did not intend her comments to be personal and that Cormier thought she was handling the situation appropriately and with respect.
But she noted that many transgendered women are able to "pass" as female without inquiry from partners or even medical doctors and that "it is only those transgendered women with what society has labelled as masculine features who would be subject to the confrontation Ms. Nixon experienced.
"Rape Relief discriminated on what it perceived, or believed, the life experience of Ms. Nixon had been, not on any actual knowledge of that experience."
She was subsequently accepted by the Battered Women's Support Services agency for training as a peer counsellor and did three months of crisis line work, and was described by BWSS as "superior" in her ability to assist callers.
She subsequently volunteered at a transition house for battered women who have mental health issues, and was described as a good worker at that venue as well.
Nixon was born male but testified she believed from early childhood that she was female, and had sex reassignment surgery in 1990.
A licensed pilot as well as a scratch golfer who won an amateur event this past summer and was a contender in several others, Nixon is in a heterosexual relationship where she co-parents a child.
She said she is relieved the case is finally over, and said it has been a difficult fight because she is a private person by nature. "It has been a long, long haul and a very deeply hurtful process and it's somewhat validating," Nixon said. "I'm just very hopeful for others who may be affected by this decision in a positive way."
She is saddened that the society persists in its belief that its counsellors should be female from birth.
"I get the strong sense that they are still in denial and that they still don't understand the issue," Nixon said.
In a press release, the society responded that the tribunal "also recognized that Vancouver Rape Relief acted in good faith, meant no harm and recognized that Rape Relief workers believed they were respectful towards Ms. Nixon.
"As well, the Tribunal recognized that it is harmful to create a situation that would potentially silence a rape victim."
Society member Lee Lakeman said Vancouver Rape Relief has no regrets about defending the case.
"To Vancouver Rape Relief this is a test case in which we are defending the human right to women-only space. This case is about what Rape Relief sees as fundamental to our work -- the life experience of being treated as a woman."
Society co-counsel Christine Boyle, a professor of the University of B.C. law faculty, noted the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission came to a different conclusion last year in a case involving transsexual women counselling biological females in prison.
"In that case it was recognized that the difficulties female inmates in correctional facilities have in dealing with men are based in part on painful life experience. So should the significance of life experience for raped and battered women be acknowledged by law."
B.C. Human Rights Commission deputy chief commissioner Harinder Mahil supported Nixon's claim before the tribunal.
Thankfully the new Gordon Campbell government will be getting rid of the Human Rights freakshow.
Pity the poor rape victim who will be "counselled" by a man dressed up in women's clothes..
Those people should absolutely NOT be allowed to counsel anyone.
God almighty! As political correctness gets farther and farther left, it abandons those it purports---or formerly purported---to help: women. Abused women. Raped women.
This is absolutely bizarre. Obviously they care more about homosexual political correctness than about the women (rape victims) they are supposedly serving.
From what I have read and heard in my life, and from watching the movies about rape and abuse victims on the "women's channels" on cable----damn, all you have to do is watch "Law and Order" to know that rape victims are pretty weirded out by men, considering they were just violated by one. Then when seeking help the government forces them to see a man who is as- or more-perverted than the one who just assaulted her.
As aptly titled: ABSOLUTELY BIZARRE.
FMCDH
The left is in f***ing-sane.
Unbelievable.
Twisted to the left homosexual sodomy bump.
Seen in this light, it's easy to understand why the dykes in charge wouldn't be too impressed with the idea of a gelded "joker" wanting to introduce him/herself into the "deck". (e.g. tax-funded racket)
For the information of normal American readers of this news forum, here's an excerpt from a news article describing the policies of the new conservative provincial government elected late last year.
From http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/columnists/story.html?f=/stories/20020118/1169216.html
A revolution on every pageVaughn Palmer
National Post
VICTORIA - The B.C. Liberals locked up reporters and pundits for a full five hours yesterday, providing an unusually long time for them to study its ambitious plan for downsizing of the provincial government.
Officially, the lengthy confinement was so managers could get layoff notices to employees before they learned the news via the media. But the layoffs -- estimated at fewer than 2,000 in the coming year -- were dwarfed by the sweeping change in the scope and nature of government programs. The Liberal briefing book contained a revolution on every page.
Highways: "The ministry will privatize all activities that can be delivered effectively by the private sector." The proposed list includes ferry routes, maintenance, communications, road signs and the crews that paint the white lines down the middle of the road.
Universities and colleges: "The ministry will be working actively to adjust the regulatory climate to allow the establishment of private-sector institutions to provide a viable alternative to public sector institutions."Applications now being accepted, according to a ministry spokesman.
Finance: "The capital works division will be restructured to create a primary agency for fostering private sector delivery of infrastructure." Meaning the construction of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and other public buildings.
The Liberals will means-test pharmacare, services for children with special needs and maybe legal aid. They'll put highways rest stops on a paying basis. Government will no longer provide income assistance to farmers.
And, in one of the more naked attempts to make a buck, the forests ministry will no longer provide forest firefighting services "on a cost-free basis," except where the assets being protected are government-owned. "Services will be available on a user pay basis," advised the ministry, though it didn't say if the terms were "cash on the barrelhead," payable in advance.
[end of excerpt]
Yes, the new conservative administration is known as the B.C. Liberals. I'm not even going to try to explain that right now ...
Probably is a "radical" crisis center. One tip-off is the use of the word "space" which is a signifying term in leftydom, having a meaning that evokes something like "lebensraum."
Funny and sad story.
Lefty blowback.
I even feel sorry for most gay people. They try to portray themselves as normal, everyday people, which most of them are. The true loonies, such as Mr/Mrs Nixon, no doubt greatly embarass them.
As utterly devoid of any rational thought as it might be to state that you are not a male if you are born male, this sentence above may be worse. You can only volunteer at a Rape Relief organization if you have been oppressed since birth? Why? Can only people who have been repressed since birth understand rape victims or desire to help? What if you didn't start being oppressed until you were two? Are you out then?
I still have one question, does it hurt to have your mind so twisted?
Shalom.
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