On Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 1:58 PM Norm Larkins <normlarkins@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks Willow
Your comments take me back to 1972 when I was a young Probation Officer in
Edmonton. I had a probation caseload with about 40% sex offenders because
supervisors indicated I was less judgemental (conservative?) than many of
my peers. Keep in mind that most of the sex offenders on probation were
peeping toms, flashers, and one young man was on probation for a womens
foot fetish which led to his criminal charges Three of my
probationers were 'drag queens' close to my age who worked the strip and
two became my clients as a result of shop lifting women's wigs. They were
I did meet with the lady in question and she produced a BC driver’s
license that said she was female as well as a Canadian Passport that said
she was female. Given that the provincial government and federal
government had effectively “ruled” on the issue of gender, it became a “no
brainer” for me to also approve the application.
Perhaps what amazed me most about this circumstance had nothing to do
directly with the applicant but with the reaction of some others in the
curling community as obviously many had known this woman as both a “he” and
a “she” and virtually every senior competitive curler in the province was
aware of the “issue”. The vast majority were very supportive and actually
expressed sympathy for the challenges this woman must have faced making a
decision at this stage in life in her mid 50s to transition. However, a
small minority were vociferous and downright vicious in the emails I
received for allowing such a travesty against God and the curling
community. It is amazing how much you learn about some old friend’s
opinions when you become involved in circumstances such as these.
Thought you might enjoy this story....
YITBOS
Jim
