But is it a medical decision?

The Toronto Star has more:

Facing the possibility of additional jail time, a B.C. father who repeatedly flouted court orders in order to wage a public campaign against his transgender child’s gender-affirming treatment told a judge Wednesday he may have got caught up in the publicity and put his trust in people with ulterior motives.

The court also heard this week from the teenager, who said in a statement his father’s defiance of publication bans left him feeling anxious and terrified he would be outed.

“Over and over private stuff about me was published online because of my dad. I have lost my faith that the courts can protect me. That makes me feel really vulnerable,” he wrote in a victim-impact statement submitted to the court, a copy of which was obtained by the Star.

Ugh god what a nightmare. It’s awful for the kid and awful for the father.

The father, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal contempt of court, avoiding a trial. The Crown recommended a sentence of 45 days in jail, plus 18 months probation, with credit for the time he had already served.

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen said Wednesday he was leaning toward a heftier sentence based on the father’s conduct.

Well at least he didn’t sentence the father to a firing squad.

The contempt-of-court case comes at a time when the debate over parental rights and medical decisions involving transgender children appears to be ratcheting up.

Yes, because deciding that children are “transgender” and need amputations and/or cross-sex hormones and/or puberty blockers is not like deciding they need to floss their teeth.

The B.C. case started in 2018 as a family dispute when the father went to court in a bid to block a decision by his then 14-year-old — who was assigned female at birth but identifies as male and has the support of his mother — to pursue gender-affirming testosterone hormone therapy.

But what if “gender-affirming” is meaningless jargon? What if the issue here is letting 14-year-olds get irreversible changes to their bodies that they could well come to regret when they get older and develop better judgement? What then?

The case made it to the B.C. Court of Appeal, which reaffirmed in January 2020 the right of the child to make his own health decisions under the B.C. Infants Act, noting that a medical team had assessed him to be “sufficiently mature” and that “no further consent” from his parents was required.

While acknowledging the right of the father to express his views to his child, the appeal court also found that the father’s refusal to accept his child’s chosen gender and identity was “disrespectful” and “hurtful” and the manner in which he aired his concerns in online forums was “irresponsible.”

Now, if the child had claimed to be a shark or a grasshopper or a cruise ship, the court perhaps would have seen the father’s point, but since we’re talking about Sacred Gender, skepticism and disbelief are not allowed.

The father testified that when he reviewed the medical consent form signed by his child, he became concerned by all the potential effects the hormone therapy could have on his child’s body.

“I’m saying wait until you’re 18 … so your body can handle these medical procedures,” he said.

“I’ve never seen this — honestly — as a transgender issue. It has always been about the medical implications of what would be the result of my child doing this at a young age.”

Which is something a parent ought to be doing, you would think.

H/t Screechy Monkey

One Response to “But is it a medical decision?”