In March, Justice Gregory Bowden of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada ruled that a 14-year-old girl, who was experiencing gender-dysphoria, could receive testosterone injections without parental consent. Now, the father of the girl is subject to arrest, without a warrant, if any police officer has “reasonable” grounds to believe that he has referred to his daughter by her birth sex (she) instead of calling them a male.
Against the Law
Justice Gregory Bowden’s ruling which allowed a 14-year-old girl to begin receiving testosterone injections without he parents consent has been hailed as a significant legal win by LGBTQ activists. Bowden went further in his ruling, stating that if either of the girl’s parents referred to their daughter as a girl, they would be guilty of family violence according to the Canadian Family Law Act.
Since that ruling the girl’s father, Clark*, concerned for his young daughter’s health, has been seeking to find a reversal to Bowden’s decision. “[I want] to save my daughter,” Clark stated. “I think a small window still exists to let that happen,” but a few more months of legal wrangling—a year, at most—and that window will have shut. A courtroom victory, then, even if it might benefit others from the standpoint of precedent, would be but cold comfort to a father’s heart.” [1]
Hoping to bring awareness to his case as a parent, Clark did multiple interviews with various news outlets- all the while refusing to refer to his transgender daughter as a boy. Thus Justice Francesca Marzari of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada, declared Clark to be guilty of “family violence” based on his repeated “expressions of rejection of [her] gender identity.” [2]
Gag Order
Marzari then ordered the father to not talk about his daughter’s case to the public at all. After concerns of Marzari limiting Clark’s freedom of speech, Marzari stated that she was not overriding Clark’s “freedom of thought and speech.” “There is no requirement that [Clark] change his views about what is best for [his daughter],” she explained. “It is only how he expresses those views privately to [his daughter] and publically to third parties that is affected.”
Later, the Supreme Court issued another, more severe “protection order,” [3] which states that Clark is subject to arrest if he, in any way, refers to his daughter as a girl in public or in private. The document goes on to say that any police can arrest the father, without a warrant, if they have “reasonable” grounds to believe he misgendered his daughter. [4]
The new court order states that Clark cannot discuss his daughter’s gender identity in public, or share court documents which describe his gag order. Strangely enough, those documents are publicly available.
*Names are pseudonyms, court documents refer to the father as CD and the media refers to him as Clark.
Notes:
- ^“‘Doctor’ Advises Threatening Suicide To Get Trans Treatments For Kids.” Federalist, 1 Apr. 2019, thefederalist.com/2019/04/01/doctor-advises-threatening-suicide-get-transgender-treatments-kids. (go back ↩)
- ^“Marzari Decision – protection order – redacted.pdf.” 29 Apr. 2019, www.docdroid.net/ODiyOzq/marzari-decision-protection-order-redacted.pdf#page=2. (go back ↩)
- ^“2019 BCSC 604 A.B. v. C.D. and E.F.” 18 Apr. 2019, www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/sc/19/06/2019BCSC0604.htm. (go back ↩)
- ^“Authorities To Arrest Father If He Refers To Trans Child As Her Real Sex.” Federalist, 29 Apr. 2019, thefederalist.com/2019/04/29/authorities-arrest-canadian-father-refers-trans-child-real-sex. (go back ↩)
