BC trans activist has minor legal win against Rebel News

A BC trans activist embroiled in a lengthy legal fight with Rebel News has had a minor legal victory after the BC Human Rights Tribunal ruled she could continue her discrimination case against the media company.

According to a recently published Nov. 26 BC Human Rights Tribunal decision, Jessica Simpson took issue with Rebal News after it published 10 videos on its YouTube channel in 2019 and July 2020.

Simpson argued the videos are discriminatory, as they misgender her, use her dead name, and call her inflammatory names.

While the Tribunal dismissed much of her case as being out of time, it did allow the matter to go to a hearing for one video she claimed was discriminatory.

Rebel News argued the video’s content was “reasonable communication” and fair comment, but the Tribunal didn’t buy it.

“The video goes beyond shedding light on Ms. Simpson’s misdeeds and the repercussions of her alleged assault on a Rebel News reporter. The video encourages Rebel News supporters to fund their legal proceedings against Ms. Simpson with the end goal being her incarceration in a male correctional facility,” the Tribunal ruled. “In my view, advocating for a transgender woman to be placed in indefinite detention at a male correction facility takes out of the realm of conjecture that Rebel News intended the publication to have a discriminatory effect on Ms. Simpson.”

The legal ruling is one of many between Simpson and Rebel News, which the Tribunal calls a “longstanding and antagonistic relationship.”

Simpson made international headlines in 2018 when she filed multiple complaints to the BC Human Rights Tribunal after she was refused a Brazilian wax at several Lower Mainland body waxing salons – even though it might have meant waxing her scrotum. She lost the case, and the Human Rights Tribunal called her “abusive and deceptive,” and ordered her to pay $6,000 to salons she harassed and threatened.

The Tribunal says Rebel Media has been “preoccupied” since then.

“Rebel News spends a considerable amount of attention and resources on Ms. Simpson,” the decision reads.

In 2022, Simpson sued Rebel News for harassment and defamation, but lost the case.

Over the years, she’s been a “prolific litigant,” filing numerous legal challenges for perceived ills against her.

She failed in several attempts against businesses which refused her service dog – she once argued for $34,000.

In the current case, the Tribunal ruled that the majority of Simpson’s claims were out of time, but ruled one video and a retaliation complaint could move forward.

The decision says the retaliation complaint is from a video Rebel News surreptitiously recorded at the Human Rights Tribunal and published.

The video is headlined: “CAUGHT ON TAPE: Human rights tribunal threatens to censor Rebel News”.

Rebel News argued the video wasn’t done in retaliation, but the Tribunal said it wasn’t persuaded that it had a credible explanation.

The Tribunal said Rebel News’ conduct of publicly misgendering Simpson, using her dead name, and calling her inflammatory names in the video could be seen as intimidation or discrimination.

“This language goes beyond commentary… It is the type of language that could dissuade people from filing human rights complaints, which is what the provision was designed to guard against,” the Tribunal said. “In reporting on Ms. Simpson in the manner it did in the retaliation video, Rebel News did what it has consistently done: reporting on Ms. Simpson in a manner ‘heavily laden with vitriol and gratuitous insults.’”

Ultimately, the Tribunal dismissed much of Simpson’s case, but did allow parts of it to continue to a hearing.

No date is given for when that might happen.