The Foolishness of BC Human Rights

The BC Human Rights Commission, presided over by its Chairperson, well-known lesbian activist, Mary Woo- Sims, excels in foolish rulings. It recently broke its own record for absurdity when it ordered a Victoria gay bar owner to pay $2,000 in compensation for the "injury to dignity, feelings and self respect" suffered by Tawni Sheridan, a "transsexual in transition," because the club prevented "her" from using the women's washroom.

Apparently, Tawni was dressed as a woman at the time in question, although as tactfully expressed by Globe and Mail columnist, Paul Sullivan (January 16, 1999) "under the frock she was still one of the brothers." Some of the women in the bar insensitively complained to the bar owner that Tawni was only pretending and so, should use the men's washroom. The bar owner, who dared to address this confusion on the basis of anatomical correctness, requested Tawni to use the men's washroom.

The Human Rights Tribunal gallantly came to Tawni's rescue, however, and ruled that "she" was a woman, because she said she was a woman, and that by refusing to recognize this, the bar had discriminated against her on the basis of sex. Not only that, the Tribunal, clearly on the cutting edge of legal and intellectual discernment, decreed that Tawni was also physically disabled and required human rights protection on that ground as well. It's unclear whether her disability arose because God made her the wrong sex, or whether her disability arose because she hadn't yet received her surgical and hormonal adjustments to match her "true" gender.

Tawni is now safe from further humiliation and Ms. Woo-Sims has announced that BC must take steps to amend the Human Right Code to include "gender identity" as a protected right, in order to prevent the discomfort of any man who thinks "she" is a woman from being refused the use of a women's washroom again.

The BC Human Rights Commission has a yearly appropriation of $6.2 million, which the residents of BC undoubtedly are happy to spend in view of its keenness to wrestle insidious discrimination to the ground.

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