Who's Punking Whom?: An Update

So yesterday I posted about NOW Magazine's assertion that a letter to the Toronto Star's "ethics" expert re an unfortunate encounter with a transsexual was bogus. NOW claimed the letter was similar to other such fakes that had been concocted by ideologues with an agenda. According to the Star's own in-house ombudsman, though, the letter may indeed be the real McCoy:

I cannot tell you with absolute certainty that a letter published recently in the Star’s “Ethically Speaking” column from a “senior” woman recounting the inappropriate sexual behaviour of a transgender woman in a Y change room is not a hoax concocted for political purposes. 

I can tell you I have telephoned and talked to the North York woman whose name is on the email sent to Star ethics columnist Ken Gallinger in October. I have also confirmed that the YMCA of Greater Toronto received a similar letter from a former member in late fall. Last week, an executive of the organization contacted the same North York woman I talked with. 

If this woman’s letter was a hoax perpetuated by organized forces opposed to transgender rights, as many in the transgender community through North America and beyond have declared with all certainty, then it is indeed a grand and elaborate one played on both the Star and the YMCA.  

The woman would not agree to come forward publicly for this column. She spoke confidentially to me, in line with her expectation of confidentiality in the ethics column. “I am asking the Star to protect my privacy,” she said. “I would not rest easy if any group decided to approach me personally."...

To recap: a woman has come forward to say that she wrote the letter. The YWCA confirms that it, too, received a letter from the same woman. Now, perhaps for some unknown reason, she has it in for "the transgender community." But maybe, just maybe, she has no agenda, and the incident occurred exactly as she described it. In that case, wouldn't she be the one who is owed an apology--by the YWCA, for allowing the individual in question access to the women's change room; by "the transgendered community," for refusing to believe that one of their own--or someone pretending to be one of their own--could be capable of such bad behavior; by NOW Magazine, for failing to do the same digging as the Star's ombudsman; and last but certainly not least, to the Star's "ethics" columnist, who told the letter-writer that, no matter what, she must accept that a perv with a penis who wants to hang out in the chick's locker room and who claims to be a woman is a woman. And to cast doubt on that claim is to be a bigot who would deprive "the transgender community" of its "human rights."

Update: According to those geniuses over at the Ontario "Human Rights" Commission:

Organizations cannot discriminate, must deal with harassment complaints, and must provide a non-discriminatory environment for trans people. This also applies to “third parties,” such as people doing contract work or who regularly come into contact with the organization. People should be recognized as the gender they live in, regardless of whether they have undergone any type of surgery. Trans individuals should also be given access to washrooms and change facilities on this basis, unless they specifically ask for accommodation (such as for their own safety or privacy reasons).

And if a pre-op trans individual wants to jerk off in the women's locker room while leering at a chick-from-birth who's wriggling out of her wet bathing suit, I guess that, too, must be accommodated. For an organization to fail to do so is to invite a "human rights" complaint that will likely cost it lots of time, grief, and, of course, cash.