The following are responses to the legal court case:
By representing the many voices and perspectives involved with this legal case, one is able to see the juridical and ethical impacts that are interlinked between the case, as there are two major aspects: 1) the demands of the child’s right to express their gender identity. And 2) understanding and respecting the child’s gender expression through a patriarchal colonialized society.
*Important to note that the main Facebook Post on CBC News was deleted after a disclaimer was added to the original article on October 31, 2016, stating:
“After the CBC first published this story, legal experts clarified that judges are not subject to human rights legislation and suggested the appropriate procedure for the mother if she wanted to raise concerns about a court order would be to file a complaint through the Office of the Chief Judge.” (Underwood)
Toronto Trans Coalition Project Facebook Page
- “There is still a need for much education on gender identity and expression, not only in Alberta but across our country including Ontario. Human rights laws are changing to protect and accommodate diverse gender and this kind of behavior from our judicial system is not only unacceptable but extremely harmful and even deadly to those individuals with a gender not matching their sex designation assigned at birth.”
Trans Coalition Project is a new collective of trans and gender non-binary support and activism based in Toronto. This project stands in solidarity with those confronting human rights law for trans and non-binary bodies within Canada.
Susan Smith (pseudonym for mother of the child)
- “My first reaction to that was kind of like an out-of-body experience, like this isn’t my life, this isn’t happening, and then complete fear of how am I going to break it to my kid.”
- “When they’re really that young it’s really cute … and I just left it like that.”
- “My child was severely unhappy and was prepared to do anything to prove to mom that they were not a boy. It was basically like a ton of bricks, I got hit. It was a major wakeup call.”
- “Our eyes locked and it was maybe the millionth time they told me they were a girl… and I promised I was going to do whatever I could to validate and support them and to be that one person they could go to.”
- “I’m not going to hide under a rock and just give up — this is still a big fight.”
(Underwood)
In the original CBC News article, Smith personifies the court case by representing the child and the identity which they chose to express. We understand that she is trying to do everything she can, despite the many barriers she has had throughout the three court orders.
- “I’m the person that knows this kid more than anybody in this world […] It’s like telling your kid who has a huge thing for being Spiderman – and that was allowed to have a Spiderman backpack, a Spiderman shirt, a Spiderman pencil and a Spiderman cup – and all of a sudden you come along and you take all of that away. And you give them a Batman cup.”
- After Smith allowed her child to express a feminine identity, she said, “Everything was perfect.”
- “My kid then started talking about dying. At four, they didn’t feel that the world wanted them to be a girl. That they were no good.”
- “My kid was asking me, ‘Mom, does it hurt to die? How can I die, where would I go when I die? Mom, now that you know, when I die, grow me in your belly but grow me as a girl, not with a penis. Because now you know.’”
(Kassam)
In further journalism, Smith was able to expand further on the violent impact that the court proceedings have had on the child, suggesting thoughts of death.
Angela Reid, Trans Equality Society of Alberta (TESA)
- “If it’s actually a boy who thinks he’s a boy but he wants to wear dresses anyway, that is totally OK, and that should not be prevented by the court.”
- “The fact that we’re seeing multiple cases where someone’s gender expression is being dictated by the court tells us that perhaps a more visible ruling that, that it’s not OK in our court system, would be very useful.”
(Underwood)
- “We certainly believe she has grounds […] Even with the order having been corrected, I would agree that there’s been some harm done.”
“What we are objecting to is an agent of the state — in the form of the judge — having a court order that limits the child’s expression.”
(Purdy)
As an ally with Smith and her child, TESA is a not-for-profit organization founded in Edmonton, Alberta. The society aims to be both a voice and witness to trans-identified Albertans, practicing their human rights within the Alberta Human Rights Act.
Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley
- “Last fall, we amended the Alberta Human Rights Act, adding gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination […] This is now law, and we expect all Albertans to follow the law.”
(Underwood)
Kris Wells, University of Alberta’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services
- “These kinds of decisions shouldn’t be happening, particularly when our human rights legislation has changed […] Some of these attitudes need to be challenged and corrected.”
(Purdy)
References
Kassam, Ashifa. “Canada Order barring Child from Wearing Girls’ Clothes Prompts Call for Change.” The Guardian. November 19, 2016. Accessed December 03, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/19/canada-gender-identity-training-lawsuit-clothing-public-alberta.
Toronto Trans Coalition Project Facebook page. Accessed December 3, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/torontotranscoalitionproject/
Purdy, Chris. “Judges in Medicine Hat Custody Case Ordered Boy Not to Wear Girls’ Clothes in Public.” Calgary Sun, The Canadian Press. October 24, 2015. Accessed December 03, 2016. http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/10/24/judges-in-medicine-hat-custody-case-ordered-boy-not-to-wear-girls-clothes-in-public.
Underwood, Colleen. “Medicine Hat Judges Ordered 4-year-old Not to Wear Girls’ Clothes in Public.” CBC News. October 24, 2016. Accessed December 03, 2016. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/medicine-hat-judges-ordered-4-year-old-not-to-wear-girls-clothes-in-public-1.3816829.