Activist judge to Christian charged with LGBT ‘hate’ speech: ‘Truth…is simply not relevant’

A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the “truth” of statements made by a Christian about a transgender political candidate’s biological sex is “not relevant” and cannot be used as a “defence” against allegations that the Christian was engaging in “hate” speech.

Christian and pro-family activist Bill Whatcott was hauled before the Tribunal last year on the grounds that he had engaged in “hate” speech for publicly exposing a transgender political candidate who claimed to be female, but who was born a biological male. The complainant, Mr Ronan Oger, who now goes by Ms Morgane Oger, was a candidate in the 2017 provincial election.

Oger is the Vice-President of B.C.’s New Democratic Party (NDP).

States court documents: “Ms. [sic] Oger was a candidate in the 2017 provincial election. During her [sic] candidacy, Mr Whatcott distributed hundreds of flyers in her [sic] riding. The flyers were titled ‘Transgenderism vs. Truth in Vancouver‐False Creek.’ They described Ms. [sic] Oger as a ‘biological male who has renamed himself... after he embraced a transvestite lifestyle.’

“Ronan is running for the NDP in the Vancouver-False Creek riding and BC’s media and the NDP are promoting a false narrative that Ronan is a woman born into a male body,” the flyer explained.

“But the truth is Ronan’s DNA will always be male, he will never have a uterus, and no amount of cosmetic surgery, fake hormones, or media propaganda is going to be able to change those facts,” the flyer continued.

Whatcott stated in his flyer his concern “about the promotion and growth of homosexuality and transvestitism in British Columbia and how it is obscuring the immutable truth about our God gave gender.” He called switching gender an “impossibility,” adding that it exposes people to harm.

Oger, who lost the election, filed a complaint with the B.C. Tribunal in May 2017, alleging that Whatcott’s flyer was “discriminatory” and exposed transgender people to “hatred and contempt.”

When Whatcott and his lawyer attempted to defend the truth of the flyer, namely that Oger was, in fact, a biological male, Tribunal member Devyn Cousineau would have none of it.

Cousineau ruled that “the ‘truth’ of the statements in the flyer is not a defence.”

“Therefore, to the extent that Mr Whatcott intends to call witnesses to establish the truth of his impugned publications, that evidence is simply not relevant to the legal issue and will not be heard by this Tribunal,” she wrote.

The B.C. Tribunal describes itself as an "independent, quasi-judicial body created by the B.C. Human Rights Code." The Tribunal, composed of unelected members, is responsible for "accepting, screening, mediating, and adjudicating human rights complaints."

Cousineau excluded in the case evidence that Oger is a biological male because she thought it “intrusive.”

“In my view, Mr Whatcott’s requests are overly intrusive into Ms. [sic] Oger’s privacy and not at all relevant for the disposition of this complaint. Furthermore, the basis for the requests is questionable insofar as they are premised on Mr. Whatcott contesting that Ms. [sic] Oger is a transgender woman. That fact is the very foundation of his publications concerning her [sic] fitness for office.”

Whatcott said that Cousineau’s ruling was biased.

“Her rejection of giving any consideration to the truthfulness of my statements and her admonishment that I can't have any expert testimony that testifies to the truthfulness or accuracy of my statements in my election flyer pretty much means this trial will be no more credible than Stalin's show trials in the former USSR,” he wrote on his blog.

“And I am supposed to expect impartial justice from this leftist kangaroo, who believes the truthfulness of my statements is irrelevant?” he added.

“Transvestitism (falsely called transgenderism”) is being pushed by the media and the leftist elites seeking to turn the once free and moral west into a sewer,” Whatcott replied. “The issue is much bigger than Ronan.”

“He simply happened to be the transvestite politician that everyone was pretending was a woman. I decided to speak truth to the matter and the rest is history.”

Whatcott believed that Oger’s medical records would have helped in the case as they would have testified to the truth that, as Whatcott stated in his pamphlet, Ogen is actually male.
“We now have a problem as the human rights judge explicitly stated the truth doesn’t matter,” Whatcott said.