A Canadian father was convicted on charges of “family violence” after refusing to call his teenage daughter by her preferred male pronoun.
What is the background?
As Faithwire previously reported, at the end of February, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that the 14-year-old girl, “Maxine,” could receive her desired male hormone injections without her parents’ consent after she decided on her own accord to become a boy.
The father, “Clark,” insisted that in the months prior to her decision, Maxine had exhibited signs emotional instability and depression and had been acting out sexually, even making a brief foray into lesbianism.
Her father claimed that her mental health was volatile since he and his wife underwent a divorce — he claimed that her decision to become a boy was as a result of this emotional strife, and demanded to be involved in her healthcare.
However, the hospital administering her treatment, as well as the teenager’s school, refused to let the dad get involved.
After a protracted legal battle, the Supreme Court went on to determine that if either parent was to try and prevent their daughter from receiving the injections, they could be found guilty of “family violence.”
Now, that shocking threat has become a reality.
Court unhappy with the father’s media interviews
The father in the case, who has remained anonymous along with his daughter, made comments to The Federalist shortly after the facts of the case broke.
“She is a girl,” he told the outlet. “Her DNA will not change through all these experiments that they do.”
In the latest court ruling, Justice Francesca Marzari of the Supreme Court of British Columbia noted her displeasure with the father continuing to publicly refer to his daughter as, well, his daughter. The judge insisted that she should now be referred to as a boy in accordance with her wishes.
The dad’s “continued willingness to provide interviews to the media … in which he identifies [Maxine] as female, uses a female name for [Maxine] … and expresses his opposition to the therapies [Maxine] has chosen” place her at “a significant risk of harm,” the judge declared.
While Clark insisted he was simply stating a biological fact, the judge
labeled these comments as an explicit example of “family violence” on account of being a “public denial of [Maxine’s] gender identity.”
Protection order issued against father
Marzari not only convicted Clark of this so-called “violence,” but also went on to issue a “protection order” to prevent him from speaking to the media about the case.
In addition, Clark is also prohibited from exposing Maxine to any material that might cause her to “question whether [her] gender identity is real or the treatments [she] seeks are in [her] best interests.”
This aspect of the ruling was determined after it was revealed that Clark had invited his daughter to watch a video featuring a Canadian conservative commentator.
Bizarrely, despite the extreme measures taken by the Supreme Court to gag Clark from expressing his views on this troubling situation, the judge insisted that his “freedom of thought and speech,” remained completely unaffected by the ruling.
“There is no requirement that [Clark] change his views about what is best for [Maxine],” she noted. “It is only how he expresses those views privately to [Maxine] and publically to third parties that is affected.”
Clark’s appeal against the original ruling over testosterone injections will be heard May 14.