An 18-year-old Ontario student has been acquitted on “hate crime” charges after putting up flyers calling out the dangers posed by transgender surgeries.
The teen put up posters around his high school with a QR code that linked to a video warning young people who are questioning their gender about the serious, potentially life-threatening risks involved in transgender surgeries, or what advocates call “gender reassignment.”
Once school officials caught on to the posters — and watched just 15 seconds of the 14-minute video — they declared the content “hateful” and called the police. The police then launched a criminal investigation and he was criminally charged for his efforts.
Facing charges of hate speech and mischief, on March 3 an Ontario Court of Justice judge dropped the charges against the teen, who was represented by The Democracy Fund (TDF), after a two-day trial in Kitchener, ON.
TDF in a press release noted hate crime, or “publicly inciting hatred,” is when someone publicly says something that “promotes hatred against an identifiable group in a manner likely to lead to a breach of the peace.”
TDF lawyer Alan Honner argued the video linked through the QR code contained material some could interpret as “offensive,” it was not hate speech as defined by Canadian law.
“The courts have consistently held that hate speech must be extreme, promoting the vilification and detestation of a particular group,” wrote Honner in the press release.
“The trial judge recognized that this case did not meet that standard and accordingly entered an acquittal.”
Honner during the trial questioned the “decision-making process of school authorities” and argued they failed to both fully assess the material and demonstrate “due concern for the student’s welfare.”
"No reasonably informed person could determine whether the video constituted hate speech based on the first 15-seconds," said Honner said.
"Rather than engaging with the student or guiding him towards a better understanding of the social issues, the administration unfortunately chose to pursue a legal remedy."
