Speaking of TERFs at crisis resources behaving badly: Vancouver Rape Relief, a sexual assault and domestic violence resource which has secured legal precedent to exclude trans women from its life-saving services, has cried bully after a union organization announced it will be only associating with trans-inclusive groups:

Feminists activists [sic] in Canada have said they have been “bullied and blackmailed” by a union group over their opposition to a trans rights bill.

A spokesperson for the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter has expressed concerns over a transgender rights bill C-16.

Hilla Kerner says the bill, which would add “gender identity” and “gender expression” into protected categories in the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code threatens “female-born” women’s spaces.

The bill passed in the House of Commons in last year and has gone to the Senate.

But Kerner says there “is no social consensus on what these terms mean”.

There’s no social consensus on what any of the protected terms in Canada’s Criminal Code “means.” That’s the point. The laws built around discrimination or persecution include mechanisms based on perceived identity–it doesn’t necessarily matter whether or not a victim is “objectively” a member of the targeted demographic, only that the perception could be proven to be present in the perpetrator when it happened.

So, you know, Kerner is actually saying we should burn the whole human rights code down because of case law which establishes that perceived membership is adequate for its statutes.

In the name of feminism.

She spoke at the Red Chamber committee, which was studying the bill, saying that the bill could complicate the process of organising and fighting for women’s rights.

Kerner says women’s groups should have “the right to decide who they will serve and who their members are,” speaking to Heat Street.

What is ironic is that CBC reported that Kerner has gone on record to acknowledge that the day-to-day operation of Vancouver Rape Relief–its trans-exclusion policy, in other words–is unaffected, because its jurisdiction is British Columbian and not Canadian. VRR fought tooth and nail to exclude trans women. Congrats! You won! The rest of the country moved the fuck on, but you won. What are you actually complaining about? That the rest of the country isn’t as bigoted as you are?

Kerner acknowledged that while the legislation might not have a direct impact on the day-to-day operations of her shelter — it does not fall under federal jurisdiction, and it is already subject to provisions of the B.C. Human Rights Code — she said the bill sends the wrong message.

Kerner said because her organization does not house trans women in its shelter they have been the subject of a “witch hunt” by some activists.

So what’s the actual story then? Kerner’s transphobic pet project is completely unaffected, has admitted it will remain unaffected, yet here she is claiming it will be affected? You might want to make up your mind before you run to the media crying wolf.

(Also, maybe I need to add “witch-hunter” to my CV. Is it my choice of hat? You’d think I’d remember burning all these cis women alive, but sadly, I can only recall strapping their limbs to horses before sending them running off in opposite directions.)

The shelter testified at the committee to say that it blocked a trans woman who had undergone gender reassignment surgery from becoming a rape counsellor because she did not have enough “life experience” to warrant the position.

A totally reasonable and not at all fallacious argument.

Kerner says that a the British Columbia Federation of Labor [sic], a group of unions, had passed a resolution urging affiliates to avoid donations to “trans* exclusionary organisations”.

The resolution specifically mentioned the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.

“They are interfering with our political work, our public work,” Kerner says in response to the resolution.

“This is an informal attempt to bully us and blackmail us to change our position.”

Yes, if we switch gears to examine the brutal indictment, we see here the BC Teacher’s Federation, a partner of the broader Federation of Labour, calling for Kerner to be executed by guillotine at high noon!

The practice of excluding some women because of how those women happened to have been identified by a doctor or those women’s parents at birth is at odds with the BCTF’s and the labour movement’s commitment to the rights of all equity-seeking groups, and cannot be condoned.

We cannot be on the one hand advancing inclusion of our trans students, while on the other hand donate to any organization that would exclude them as adults.

Or… not.

So freedom of association is okay for TERFs who–I repeat–have secured legal precedent to exclude trans women from their resources–but when somebody else exercises their freedom of association to disassociate from such odious bigotry, it’s “bullying” and “blackmail”?

Why, yes, every time I walk past a vendor and choose not to patronize them I am obviously blackmailing them! Arrest me at once! I confess!

What a fucking world TERFs live in, eh?

-Shiv