Action Alert
Write to the College of Psychologists of Ontario Investigations and Hearings Office
Our action alert today is connected to both the core purpose and principles of the LGBT Courage Coalition: ending the medical transition of children and adolescents, respecting trans people, and upholding free speech. It also connects to our core values of honoring a diversity of viewpoints and encouraging open and honest discussion.
As LGBT identified people speaking out from within the community, we seek to break out of the “left vs right” narrative of the culture war, and build bridges of understanding across politicized divides. With that commitment, we bring you the action alert for today.
Cancel Culture in Canada
Cancel culture has reached a new low in Canada. The strategies of doxing, name-calling, and calls to employers are used to threaten the livelihoods of anyone deemed worthy of punishment for straying from the party line. This produces a chilling effect on free speech not only for the individuals targeted by cancellation, but across society as a whole.
Within this context, professional colleges have become the new battleground over culture, and are placing themselves as regulators of public thought and expression. In Canada, two current examples of this are Amy Hamm versus the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNIM), and Dr. Jordan Peterson versus the College of Psychologists of Ontario.
Background - Dr. Jordan Peterson
Dr. Jordan Peterson is a high-profile psychologist, author and public speaker who rose to public attention after speaking out against Canada’s Bill C-16, which prohibited discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act on the basis of gender identity and expression. At the time, Dr. Peterson spoke out against the potential of this bill to compel speech - specifically compel the use of gender neutral or neo pronouns. While Dr. Peterson is seen by some as a controversial figure, he is also seen by many as the canary in the coal mine for how gender ideology would become an authoritarian movement seeking to shut down open dialogue and free speech.
As one of our members states, “Dr. Peterson doesn’t mince words. His style is one of precision and decisiveness. He’s not afraid to challenge mainstream, especially left-wing narratives. The strength of his words evokes strong support or opposition.”
In 2022, the College of Psychologists of Ontario launched an investigation into Peterson after receiving public complaints about statements he had made on Twitter/X. The College investigation concluded that his online statements make him a “moderate risk of harm” to the public and the reputation of psychology as a profession, and ordered him to attend Social Media Training or risk losing his professional license. On Wednesday, August 23, 2023, an Ontario Court ruled against Dr. Peterson, and upheld the College’s order.
Our Common Concern: Stop Medical Interventions for Children
The LGBT Courage Coalition and the Gender Dysphoria Alliance (GDA) share Dr. Peterson’s concerns about compelled speech and the current harms of medical interventions for gender-distressed children, adolescents and teenagers. We applaud Dr. Peterson for his interviews with detransitioners, journalists, psychologists and former gender clinic employees who have the courage to speak out at great risk to their own reputations and livelihoods.
ACTION ALERT!
Please write to the College of Psychologists of Ontario Investigations and Hearings Office: invhear@cpo.on.ca to recommend that the LGBT Courage Coalition, and the Gender Dysphoria Alliance be appointed to provide Dr Peterson with the ordered Social Media Training. We would serve as great resources to work with Dr Peterson on creating effective public messaging of these concerns, as they directly impact the LGBT population.
Here is a sample letter:
Dear College of Psychologists of Ontario Investigations and Hearings Office,
My name is ______ and I am a concerned (mother, therapist, member of the LGBT community, etc). I am writing about the ordered Social Media Training for Dr. Jordan Peterson.
I believe that with its investigation and ruling, the College is truly seeking to do the right thing to support members of the LGBT community and the public at large. I am writing to encourage the College to appoint the Gender Dysphoria Alliance and the LGBT Courage Coalition to deliver the ordered Social Media Training.
The Gender Dysphoria Alliance is run by transgender and transsexual individuals seeking to inform the conversation around gender dysphoria, and the LGBT Courage Coalition is a coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults who are concerned with the current state of gender medicine for children, adolescents and teenagers in the United States and Canada. Both organizations share many of Dr. Peterson’s concerns, and would serve as a positive resource to help him create more effective public messaging around controversial issues that directly impact the LGBT population.
Sincerely,
_________________________________________________________________________
I don’t share most of Dr Petersen’s politics but support his right and everyone’s right to free speech. What is happening in Canada is extremely frightening and is starting to be echoed in the US with a Davis California library shutting down a speaker for calling transidentified males men at a meeting on saving women’s sports. Seems to me that this approach of the Courage Coalition is conceding that the state has a right to dictate if or how one can express one’s opinions and that can further compel “reeducation” of those with dissident views, with refusal costing one’s professional lucense. . I also don’t think there is any chance that this group or others who depart from the approved trans narrative will be chosen to do the “reeducation.” But my main point is that comperlled “reeducation” has no place in a free society to begin with.
done! thank you--good to point out to them that maybe supporting trans-identifed people is not what they think it is :).