British Columbia Court: Trans Woman Cannot Become a Rape Counselor
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has sided with Vancouver Rape Relief and their decision to remove Kimberly Nixon, a trans woman, from a training session for volunteer counselors when they learned that she was born male. While I see how some female survivors of rape may feel uncomfortable with a counselor who was born male, I also see other options besides prohibiting trans women from being volunteer counselors (which I don’t feel is an option at all).
One option would be to have women who are seeking counseling complete questionnaires regarding their comfort level on different topics. A question asking the women if they would be comfortable speaking with a transgender or transsexual counselor would not out trans counselors while assuring that women seeking counseling are comfortable with the counselors they are assigned to.
I’d really love to say that it just shouldn’t matter if someone is trans, or gay, or has blue or brown eyes – but sometimes, to some people, it does, and centers that exist to help those who have gone through life-altering traumas should do the best to make everyone as comfortable as possible in their quest to seek help.
i’m really sorry that this decision was made. living in vancouver myself, and having close ties to the social service scene here, i’ve followed this a little bit. i find it sad that no compromise could be found there – like the one you mentioned. what also troubles me is that when i discussed this matter with others, it seemed that it was invariably those who were a bit more on the homophobic side who felt that having her worked there was not such a good idea. i hope that the appeal in the supreme court of canada will make a decision that is not so discriminatory.