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OPINION

I realize after a week like we’ve had in the Okanagan, after yet another stellar example of bigotry making international news — anti-trans flavour, this time — I should express nothing but support for the LGBTQ community.

This is not that column.

I share their condemnation for what I understand happened at a track and field meet for children in Kelowna last weekend. If you’ve been on another planet, some poor kid's grandparents kicked up a fuss at the track meet when he accused a girl of being a boy or trans and competing against girls. It was ugly and embarrassing. That girl has two moms, so naturally a confrontation ensued, the event got moved, now the grandparents are banned from schools, are being investigated by police, doxxed online and earned international notoriety.

Josef Tesar, the grandfather, took what he thought he knew about transgenderism, probably from Fox News or The Rebel or his church, and used his ignorance like a weapon to inflict harm on others and deny them space.

That’s unacceptable, making him the latest loser in this battle in the culture wars.

Marshall Jones, managing editor

There will be many more battles to come. The religious right, social right and kooky right is fervent and appears to be turning its attention from vaccines and convoys to a fixed gaze on transgendered people and queer people by extension. Buckle up for the backlash.

There’s no place in my society to deny the existence and legitimacy of other people. Nor is there a place, in my mind, to stifle discussion, debate and journalism.

At the same time Tesar was reminding the world of old Kelowna bigotry once again, Kelowna's LGBTQ community was taking aim at your ability to even discuss transgender issues.

They have a petition on Change.org calling out Castanet for “content that is allowed within the Castanet forums… regarding trans/queer issues.”

I know, I was shocked too. Castanet forums still exist?

The lengthy explanation on the petition references a specific thread called: “The cancelling of women continues” and contains screenshots of the offensive things they say need to be removed and an apology demanded from Castanet along with a pledge to never do it again.

Some of the comments are clearly awful and indefensible. Mostly, it's cringey and ignorant, but while crude and not at all using the New and Approved Lexicon of Acceptable Words, at their core the questions, concerns and sentiments are somewhat defensible, whether I share them or not.

I don’t mean to be insensitive but gender bending is not the same as race or sexuality. It’s not simply a matter of acceptance, which is what got us from 80s-level gay hate to institutional Pride. I mean, of course it is, but there are natural differences and difficulties here. Someone else being gay or a different ethnicity has no impact on others, whatsoever. I'm not sure the same can be said about transgenderism.

It requires something of other people, including a change in perception and language, let alone medical intervention. People will always be concerned about kids. The questions of transgendered athletes won’t be settled soon. Integration in private places like bathrooms and change-rooms won't ever be easy. Some women have particular concerns and shouldn't be simply dismissed because they disagree.

It sucks and no one wants to add to the burden of those transitioning, but these were always foreseeable hurdles. I'm not sure how to bring more humanity and clarity to these subjects, but I don't think it's by telling others to shut up. 

To be clear, I also understand why queer and transgendered communities have zero patience for discussion on these questions. They shouldn't. Their legitimacy, safety and security in society should never be in question; they are owed the same chance at equality and dignity we all expect.

However, it cannot be a surprise that some folks are confused and still need to reckon with the effects. I haven’t entirely wrapped my head around it. I have questions, if not fully fledged concerns. I understand why wearing a headdress or blackface at Halloween is wrong, so I'm not sure why men dressing in drag is championed. How are people supposed to understand if they can't even discuss it?

You're basically delivering them to Fox News or the Rebel.

Castanet has agreed to meet with the petition makers and who knows what comes of that but the official LGBTQ community in Kelowna aren’t even content at that.

They also called out Castanet for its news coverage of the track and field story, among others, because it used “a sensationalized title, clearly hoping to use it as clickbait” and for actually getting and publishing the other side of the story from Tesar. They call this “platforming”.

"Telling the 'opposing side' of a story is dangerous when it is based on opinion and not fact, especially so when what is being called into question is the right for transgender people to exist in public space,” the petition says.

Castanet didn’t do anything of the sort. They got and published Tesar’s side of the story of what happened at the track meet. That’s it. They didn't repeat any of his messed up views on the subject. That’s legitimate journalism, even well done.

What’s truly dangerous is this tactic of trying to silence objection or discussion, whether from the public or from good journalism. You learn a lot about people in how they deal with dissension and this raises flags.

Red, not rainbow.

This is where they lose me, at the extremes. At some point, just like the right, they just want to tell other people what to do. That's where I resist.

Truth and nuance may be the first casualties in any war, but not if we don’t let it. 

— Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca

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