In British Columbia, Censorship Wears a Pronoun Pin
2nd October 2024
Lin Robinson-Young isn’t a well-known figure. On social media, the Victoria, B.C.-based social-justice activist self-describes as an “autistic thembo nerd” who seeks to “free Palestine”; but otherwise provides scant biographical information, and attracts few followers. But such is the radicalised political climate in British Columbia’s capital, at the heart of what is sometimes called Canada’s “left coast,” that a single local obscurity such as this can pose a real threat to the free speech rights of everyone else.
On September 15, Robinson-Young posted to a Facebook group called Victoria BC Protests (Activism & Demonstrations), denouncing the local Royal Canadian Legion hall for hosting a group of women that I’d helped bring together for a speaking tour. Our organisation, Vancouver Island Speaks, stands for the propositions that biology is real; that women deserve the right to establish protected spaces that are free of men (no matter what pronouns they care to use); that parents of gender-distressed children should be informed by educators if their children seek to adopt a new identity; and that minors should not be treated with life- and body-altering hormones and surgeries as a means to cope with gender stereotypes and the stresses of puberty. According to Robinson-Young, these positions mark us as a “far-right anti-transgender hate group.”