Thread by @ArshyMann

I'm at Canada Christian College where hundreds of people have come to listen to a panel on the federal trans rights law and "compelled speech." Speaking are Barbara Kay, Lindsay Sheppard, Jared Brown, Deborah Soh & Sarina Singh. My guess is they're not fans of the law.

We're starting with some Jordan Peterson fan fic from Jared Brown, a trial lawyer in Toronto. Compelled speech is totalitarian, he says, and human rights commissions forcing people to use specific pronouns is that.

Brown is now going through a litany of claims that people have brought to human rights commissions, including someone who claimed their gender was "the king." The claim was dismissed. But this is still somehow an indication the system is broken.

Next up is Debra Soh, who writes for many outlets, including the Globe and Mail. "Let me get one thing out of the way — gender is binary and not a social construct." She doesn't understand why anyone thinks there are "71" different genders.

"For over 99%, our biological sex is our gender identity," says Soh. Bill C-16 wrote scientific falsehoods into the law, she says.

Behavioural differences between men and women are genetic, says Soh. Disputes research that finds male and female brains exist on a mosaic.

Soh is presenting a lot of strawmen. The other side believes that men and women have to be the same to be equal, which isn't a logic I've heard before.

Soh is very upset that some sex ed curriculum that someone sent her referred to "children with penises" instead of "boys."

My issue is that the way we talk about biology and gender shouldn't be used to further the legitimate rights of trans adults, Soh says. Still not following the connections on this.

And now we're up to Barbara Kay, one of Canada's most prominent columnists. I think it would be fair to characterize a lot of Kay's writing as transphobic.

Kay claims that "gender identity" is based off of faith and evidence. Says other protected categories, like race, are evident.

Omg, Barbara Kay just said the phrase "white girl tears." This is really something else.

"LGBT has become increasingly divided, which can be confusing to media people," says Barbara Kay, Canada's acknowledged expert on the nuances of LGBT movements.

So far, Barbara Kay has trashed #metoo, Indigenous activists, Steve Paikin and radical feminists.

I just want to note that all these speakers are extolling science on stage at Canada Christian College, which recently hosted a conference about why Darwinism is wrong, dinosaur bones are fabrications & the world is 6000 years old.

People Barbara Kay has name dropped tonight: Voltaire, John Puredy, "Dr Peterson," Steve Ladurantaye, "my son Jon," Czesław Miłosz.

Lindsay "people aren't nice enough to white nationalists" Sheppard is up now.

These folks have really created a narrative of oppression that includes certain touchstones that they keep returning to: the backlash to Peterson, Lindsay Sheppard at Laurier, the cultural appropriation prize.

Lindsay Sheppard is fine with the gay pride flag, but the trans flag brings up feelings of anger at all the people who have oppressed her.

Sheppard seems to be implying that the trans flag makes her feel unsafe, which I thought these folks weren't into.

Sorry, I've been mispelling her name. It's "Lindsay Shepherd."

Shepherd is upset that some people suggest that normalizing telling people your pronouns is a fine idea. The room groans in disgust. "Jeeeeesus," says a woman two seats away

"It starts with pronouns, but really it's an exercize in conformity," says Shepherd. Sarina Singh says she'll never be able to get a job, because she won't use people's pronouns.

Now a big round of applause for Jordan Peterson, with Brown calling him "a canary in a coal mine."

The consensus really does seem to be that we are heading towards, or ready living with, totalitarianism.

The endocrinologists have been infiltrated and corrupted by trans activists, says Barbara Kay. "The revolution has been won."

Okay, you can't make this stuff up: Lindsay Shepherd says she watched Rachel Dolezal's movie on Netflix. She quite liked it. And she quite liked her.

"Have we normalized a mental health condition?" asks Sarina Singh, referring to non-binary and genderfluid people. "You can't be genderfluid and you can't be non-binary."

Society is rewarding people with personality disorders who feel the need to be special, says Soh, about non-binary and genderfluid people.

There's not a great deal of discussion about these issues, says Barbara Kay, on a stage full of people who talk this garbage constantly in Canada's biggest media outlets.

Morgane Oger, a Vancouver trans activist and VP of the BC NDP, is not popular with the panel. They've brought up her name five or six times tonight.

Here's what hasn't been brought up tonight: discrimination against trans people, suicide rates for trans youth, disparate health outcomes for trans folks etc.

Sarina Singh says that "this entire issue blew up with Caitlin Jenner." When Barbara Kay calls her "woman of the year," the room giggles.

Barbara Kay now says that there's good reason to think that athletes that take steroids or other drugs may be more likely to end up trans.

Q from Twitter: Why have so few tenured professors stood up for you, Lindsay Shepherd? (My guess is they don't want to be associated with apologists for white nationalism).

A joke question: When can I start self-identifying as a trans-racial indigenous person? I think the panel should read some of @adamgaudry's work on the thousands of white Canadians who are self-indigenizing, claiming to be Metis

Debra Soh brings up Ken Zucker, the former head of the gender identity clinic at CAMH, who has become another martyr in the oppression story the panel is telling.

The panel has come to an end. My big takeaway: these transphobic views are mainstream and popular. These folks are aggrevied and really do see themselves as the victims.

Sarina Singh gives a final shoutout to Tanya Granic Allen(!), Paul Dirk's(!) and Jordan Peterson, who Singh has called her "mentor" at least five times tonight.

That's all for tonight, folks. I'm going to go have a good stiff drink. Thanks for following along!