“But it was very obvious that the two women who brought it in, this was very disturbing to them.” “I mean, this is literally five minutes before worship,” Bechtold said. When they went looking, they found it on the lawn burnt to a crisp. Reverend Steven Bechtold was on his way to deliver Sunday mass when two of the church’s newest members - an LGBTQ couple - noticed the flag was down. The nylon flag was left a charred, melted mess.
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That request can only be heard by a judge, she was told.įink's next court date is May 17. In court today, she asked a justice of the peace to dismiss the mischief charge against her, saying it was being dealt with by the university. "And it turns out that no, it was a trans person who was really unhappy about not being heard." Fink faces possible expulsionįink said she was suspended by the university when she was identified as a suspect, and is awaiting a non-academic misconduct hearing to see whether she will be expelled. "This woman, she set fire to a flag, and she set off this gigantic uproar, that everybody across Canada thought some hater somewhere was coming after us again," said Oger. However, Oger said that "is no excuse" to burn the pride symbol, which she calls an "act of hatred." One tension is between people who want to celebrate being out, and those who have lived for years in fear of being outed, said Oger. ("Transsexual" describes transgender people who have undergone medical treatment, such as hormone therapy or surgery, said Oger.) "Transsexual people do struggle with being marginalized within the LGBT community," said Oger, chair of Vancouver's Trans Alliance Society. Morgane Oger, chair of the Trans Alliance Society, said transsexual people are often marginalized in the LGBT community, but said that is no excuse to burn the flag. now everybody looks and they can see oh, that tall woman with a deep voice, maybe she's a dude." "But because these gender nonconformers are being so loud and proud. "Ten, 12 years ago I was just a tall woman and nobody thought anything of it," she said. And when you take it down and you put up an exclusive flag that only represents of the population, then you are sharing your hegemony over the university," she said.įink said the rising awareness about transgender people has made life more difficult for her, something she finds "really emotional, really stressful" to talk about. "The university's flag … is the flag of inclusion of the whole university. UBC's OUTweek is explicit in its intention to include transsexual and transgender people in its events, including the rainbow pride flag raising, but Fink didn't see it that way. (Megan Batchelor/CBC) 'Really emotional, really stressful'įink told CBC she does not feel included in the LGBT label - an abbreviation used to cover a range of non-gender-conforming identities, which often stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.įink draws a distinction between identities based on what gender someone is attracted to - versus what gender someone identifies as. 9, the act was viewed as a possible hate crime, prompting extra security precautions and the cancellation of a parade in support of transgender people.įink, 31, a transsexual UBC student, speaks to media outside Richmond provincial court. 5 near the university's old Student Union Building, at the opening ceremony of OUTweek, which is described by UBC as "an annual celebration of gender and sexual diversity" organized by the Pride Collective at UBC, a student club. " was met with hate and prejudice rather than critical self-reflection, so this has been a learning experience for me."
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