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Publication ban lifted on transgender complainant’s name in Surrey waxing dispute

Jessica Yaniv filed 13 discrimination claims against salons, one in Surrey, based on gender identity
17772112_web1_190719-SNW-M-Jessica-Yaniv
Jessica Yaniv photo on Twitter account. (Twitter image)

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has lifted a publication ban on the name of transgender complainant Jessica Yaniv who lodged 13 grievances against various waxing salons, including one in Surrey, claiming discrimination based on gender identity.

Tribunal member Devyn Cousineau, who originally ordered the ban identifying Yanin only as JY, reversed it on July 18 after three of the respondents argued successfully to have it lifted.

READ ALSO: Human rights complaint lodged by transgender woman against Surrey spa revisited

Surrey’s Mint Tanning Salon was accused of denying Yaniv a brazilian wax job in a complaint that made national headlines last August.

But Yaniv dropped that complaint after the respondents applied to have the publication ban lifted, “on the basis that JY had in fact already had a very public online presence as a transgender woman.”

Cousineau had ordered the publication ban on the basis that “publishing details of her gender identity could negatively impact her business.”

But in subsequently lifting the ban, Cousineau noted it is no longer warranted as Yaniv “is using her own Twitter account to tweet about these complaints and other very similar circumstances.”

“The tweets were issued from her Twitter account, using her full and real name, next to a picture of her,” Cousineau wrote in her latest reasons for decision. “It is fair to attribute them to her, for the purpose of assessing the extent to which she has any interest in maintaining privacy over these complaints.

“Whatever the reason for her behaviour, the evidence before me now cannot support a conclusion that Ms. Yaniv has a privacy interest which overrides the public interest in access to this Tribunal’s proceedings,” Cousineau decided. “Upholding a publication ban in this case undermines the integrity of the Tribunal as a public institution and can no longer be justified.”



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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