Instead of burning the flag, which is destruction of property, I should have come prepared to remove it from the pole… I should have just folded it up and left it on the ground."īefore her flag protest, Fink says she'd already faced discrimination "from every angle"-from bigots and well-meaning trans advocates alike. A university decision is expected next month.įink has since expressed regret for some of her actions, but her stance against "LGBT hegemony" has grown deeper roots. Today she'll ask a judge to dismiss those charges, on the grounds that the school is already handling the case. "Transsexual patients try to stay anonymous and silent, and they're bringing attention onto us."įink has been suspended from UBC and faces mischief charges for setting the rainbow flag on fire. "These people do lots of the talking," she said of queer activists. Now, with the global spotlight on gender-nonconforming identities, Fink feels misgendered and threatened. They've made me stop half-way though."įink's views come from her experience transitioning long before politicians debated about all-gender bathrooms. "If I knew I'd be lumped in with the gays and lesbians, instead of being accepted as a female, then I never would have gone through the process. "Twelve years ago I was just a tall female and nobody knew," Fink said. Trouble is, Fink says her identity is much closer to "straight" than "queer." Transgender, on the other hand, is a relatively new umbrella term that includes all kinds of of expressions, including transsexual. In case you need a refresher: transsexual is a term we've had for at least half a century, and refers to people whose gender doesn't match their assigned sex, many of whom pursue reassignment treatment and surgery. Adults can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-80 24 hours a day, and it’s available to people of all ages and identities."I would like it if transsexual wasn't included in LGBT," she told VICE. LGBT youth (ages 24 and younger) can reach the Trevor Project Lifeline at 1-86. If you are a trans or gender-nonconforming person considering suicide, Trans Lifeline can be reached at 87. “We have to continue to push forward and breakdown barriers and have those conversations with people who may be apathetic and think everything is fine for gay people today.” “It’s great we get to shed light on good things and empowerment, but I think it’s also critical to move things forward that we don’t forget there’s still adversity out there,” McGillis said. He boasts quite an audience, and it’s important to remain vigilant.
When you put those two things together, that rhetoric is very dangerous, especially when you have 80,000 followers.”Īn attempt to reach Penner for comment was unsuccessful, but those who want to read his views are treated to an unfiltered daily diatribe on his Twitter feed. “If you’re going to use it against the community, it has massive impact. “Being gay and being a pedophile has been a stigma within the gay community forever,” McGillis said. The experience showed McGillis there’s still intense animosity against the LGBTQ community in hockey circles. His competitors outed him, creating an intensifying drumbeat of whispers that became impossible to ignore. The previous year, he was ousted without explanation from the association where he was coaching, and no longer allowed to work with its players. Though he didn’t publicly come out until 2016, his sexuality wasn’t a secret in the hockey community. McGillis has first-hand experience with the evils of homophobia. I think it’s important to shed light on it.” Brock McGillis says homophobia can’t be ignored online. It doesn’t mean other people aren’t as extreme as him. “Dustin Penner might be an extreme case, but it doesn’t mean it’s not getting said elsewhere. The trans community gets referred to as pedophiles all the time,” McGillis said to Outsports on the phone. I’ve been called those things in 2017, 2018. He says those insults are still prevalent, especially in sports locker rooms across the world. While Penner’s unhinged Twitter presence makes Curt Schilling look dignified - the ex-forward frequently posts QAnon and coronavirus conspiracies - McGillis says it’s naive to dismiss Penner’s attacks as the ramblings of an extremist. Con’t /kM5H2ptuIM- Brock McGillis April 6, 2020 These comments by hockey guys while I played made me want and try to kill myself. So Dustin Penner made some homophobic comments and not so indirectly linked pedophilia to homosexuality.