Amazing

Friday, June 09, 2000
Sex change does not limit person's rights, court finds
Code covers the transgendered, B.C. judge rules
Wendy McLellan
The Province

VANCOUVER - People who have had sex-change surgery have the same human rights protection as everyone else, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.

The precedent-setting ruling by Mr. Justice William Davies states that existing sex discrimination provisions in the humans rights code cover transgendered men and women.

"This is a very significant decision because it's the first court ruling in Canada that says transgendered individuals are protected by human rights legislation," said barbara findlay, the lawyer for the Vancouver woman who has now won the right to a human rights hearing.

Kimberly Nixon applied to work as a volunteer counsellor for Vancouver Rape Relief in 1995. During a training session for volunteers, the workshop leader asked Ms. Nixon whether she was transgendered.

When Ms. Nixon replied that she had undergone surgery, she was ejected from the training session. The workshop leader said that to understand the needs of rape victims, and the issues of oppression, you have to have the life experience of growing up as a girl and woman.

Ms. Nixon filed a complaint of sex discrimination five years ago, but delays and administrative backlog delayed the date of the hearing. It is currently scheduled for July 10, but yesterday, lawyers for Rape Relief said they expected the case to be further delayed until December.

In April, lawyers representing Rape Relief asked the B.C. Supreme Court to throw out Ms. Nixon's complaint. They argued that the human rights code, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, was not written to include transgendered individuals.

They also said the case should be dismissed because of the five-year wait for a hearing date with the B.C. Human Rights Commission.

Ms. Nixon's lawyer argued that she is a woman and protected by the human rights code because she has undergone gender reassignment surgery and is female under B.C.'s Vital Statistics Act. She said the delay has caused harm on both sides, and dismissing the case would unfairly favor Rape Relief.

"It was humiliating," said Ms. Nixon, 42, of her experience at the training session. She has lived as a woman for 14 years. "I've been who I am since I was born. I am a woman. I was just born wrong."

After being turned away from Rape Relief, Ms. Nixon trained, then volunteered as a crisis counsellor to help battered women. She also worked at a transition house.

In his decision, Judge Davies said human rights legislation prohibits discrimination based on sex, and that it cannot be interpreted to exclude someone "merely because that person or group is not readily identifiable as being either male or female." He said Ms. Nixon is a woman under the B.C. Vital Statistics Act and is entitled to a human rights complaint.

Suzanne Jay, a spokeswoman for Rape Relief said the organization's policy is unchanged and it does not accept volunteers who are not born women.

"Obviously, we are disappointed," she said. "But we are continuing on with the case."