'I self-identify as an expert on gender dysphoria' and other hilarious statements by Barry Neufeld at his human rights hearing – Day 6
The most bizarre moments from Neufeld's testimony Monday, including also that he sold his townhouse because of my writing
Barry Neufeld's testimony at Monday's BC Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) hearing regarding the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) complaint about his alleged hate speech touched a wide range of topics. From his claim that he is an expert regarding gender dysphoria to his repeated denial that he's a child molester to testimony that he sold his townhouse because of things I wrote, it was one wacky thing after another.
Monday (Feb. 24, 2025) was day six of the hearing that started in November and ran into December before it was adjourned. It goes back to 2023 when the BCTF made the complaint, alleging that the things he repeatedly said about the LGBTQ community is likely to expose people to hatred or contempt on the basis of gender identity or expression and sexual orientation.
I listened in the hearing Monday and also attended virtually Nov. 26, Dec. 4, Dec. 5, and Dec. 6. Here are a few of the fun and not-so-fun things Neufeld said, in chronological order, starting and ending with how he appears to have violated the publication ban by sharing privileged information and names of teacher witnesses with his supporters who shared it on social media:
Breaching a ban because computers are hard
The day started with Neufeld's lawyer, James Kitchen, finishing up his questions to Neufeld. Kitchen asked Neufeld about posting recordings of the pre-hearing conference to YouTube.
"How and why?" Kitchen asked him.
"I recorded it on my smartphone," Neufeld said, adding that he couldn't figure out how to get it transferred to his computer. "The only way I could do it was upload it to YouTube and download it to my computer... There was no title. Nobody would have known what to look for. It was not a breach of confidentiality. It was for my own use."
The materials he publicly posted apparently included the names of three teachers testifying at the hearing whose names are protected by a publication ban.
Sorry not sorry
Remember when Barry Neufeld said Canada's top doctor Theresa Tam was transgender, which was weird enough, and that because of that, she can't be trusted?
Well he almost apologized for that.
"I slipped up," he admitted, saying that generally when he criticizes ideologies he makes every attempt not to name any particular person.
"I mentioned an actual individual and although the argument made sense to me, I regret ... I regret saying that about Dr. Theresa Tam."
His beautiful, curvy, young daughter
Kitchen asked Neufeld about how things were going with his daughter, who at some point was struggling with her gender identity.
Neufeld replied that the possible dysphoria she was going through was over, crisis averted, and he gave a physical description of her that was a tad too detailed for some people.
"She’s a gorgeous looking young woman now with all the feminine curves and her short boy butch cut has now grown to beautiful shoulder-length hair so we dodged that bullet and we didn’t ruin her body and ruin her life."
Bad religion
The false equivalence fallacy is one of Neufeld's favourites. He particularly likes to use it to say that transgenderism is a belief system that is akin to a religion.
He claims that when any teacher is asked how they know that transgender people exist, they drop their voice low and say, "Because I have met them.”
He also said that if you disagree with those teachers, you are brought to the human rights tribunal "whose job it is to protect this new religion and call anyone who disagrees a heretic and punish them accordingly."
He also made comparison to a religion because if you want to get out, they won't let you. Wait isn't that a cult?
"In the old days we burned heretics at the stake," Neufeld said. "Now we roast them on social media."
DIE white heterosexuals, DIE
Neufeld tried out the black-and-white fallacy by decrying the supposed replacement of the Christian notion of "love thy neighbour" with "diversity, inclusion, equity," although it's hard to see how the two are mutually exclusive. Usually referred to as DEI, Neufeld intentionally moved the letters around.
"I like to refer to it as DIE," he said. "I believe that it is a false virtue, a false ideology. Love of neighbour is far more inclusive. Hatred is unleashed as a result of DIE."
Neufeld also thinks us white heterosexuals are the real victims in modern society.
"Anyone with traditional family values are treated with disdain. White people are treated with derision.... I went on a long trip [to the U.S.] and didn’t see very many white people in what are very lucrative government jobs. Everyone is doing well. Diversity, equity and inclusion is creating anything but a harmonious society."
Mansplaining body and soul
"Nobody is born in the wrong body," Neufeld explained to the hearing. "It’s an ancient Christian doctrine that the soul is genderless and the identity is in the body that we are born with."
Take not boys and girls, here is what men are for and what women are for.
"The stronger male physique is supposed to provide and protect. The softer feminine body is supposed to nurture and care. If you are not happy with that, you are going to live a life of misery."
He also "explained" that many men have had their lives ruined with false charges of sexual assault from fake victims with fake memories.
"There is no such thing as repressed memories based on post-traumatic stress disorder."
Truth and expertise
During some of the above testimony where he was going into detail about his vast knowledge of transgenderism based on Christian doctrine, the BCTF lawyer objected on the record to make it clear that what Neufeld was saying was not fact but was his opinion.
"All of what Neufeld just said is hearsay insofar as you might to have it [on the record] for the truth of its contents," she said.
Kitchen concurred, and said he wasn't trying to use Neufeld as an expert but that what he was expressing were his beliefs.
Then Neufeld piped up, saying that he went back to school as an adult. He now has a master's degree and he plans on writing a book.
"I self-identify as an expert on gender dysphoria," he said.
No one could be heard laughing but microphones were muted.
Methinks the former trustee doth protest too much
Neufeld claimed that he has received hundreds of messages encouraging him to kill himself and accusing him of being a child molester. He said it all stemmed from former BCTF president Glen Hansman’s statement that Neufeld shouldn’t be allowed anywhere around children. (Which is true.)
He brought this up when speaking at the hearing back in December saying that this was one of the worst accusations against him. He insisted the implication in the community was that he is a child molester, and he repeatedly set the record straight.
“I have no desire to molest children”
The fact that Hansman said Neufeld should not be allowed near children came up again Monday.
"People didn’t understand that the reason was because I might upset a few trans children. People mistake that for me being a child molester. It’s taken a lot of joy out of my life. Thanks Hansman."
Did you know teaching is a popular profession for pedophiles and we are returning to a residential school system
Most of what Neufeld said on Monday was laughable, but he truly can be shockingly offensive when he wants to.
Again he claimed expertise on this subject. When he was a probation officer dealing with sex offenders he saw many teachers because, wait for it, a career that deals with children lures in "minor-attracted persons."
"I learned through the school of hard knocks and real experience," he said.
Teachers insulted, check.
But it gets worse as he puts the blame for sexual assault at residential schools in Canada on secular teachers, not the church.
"Yes it was terrible that children were abused in residential schools. They were run by churches but they weren’t run by church people."
You see, so goes Neufeld's logic, the residential schools were in remote communities. Most people didn't want to go there so the jobs teaching at them attracted people who wanted access to children, i.e. pedophiles.
"The government at the time knew better," he said. "The mistake – it’s happening again – teachers and social workers know better than their parents how to raise kids."
What, me Barry?
One of the teachers who testified in the fall who cannot be named because of a publication ban was a gay woman who was his next-door neighbour. She testified that Neufeld warned her there would be protests at her house. On Monday, Neufeld said this was wrong, and that he had said there might be protests at his house.
"I knew they were two women raising little kids," he said.
His lawyer recounted that her testimony was that she had people knocking on her door looking for Barry. He claimed that the numbers on his townhouse were missing and one time Rob Bogunovic – a CSS teacher who testified in Neufeld's defence – did it by mistake.
"She said that was upsetting and she was worried," Kitchen put to Neufeld.
"Oh baloney," Neufeld said.
Kitchen then asked him about when the neigbhour found out who he was she didn't want to interact with him anymore. She avoided him, and eventually Neufeld sold his townhouse and moved.
But why?
"I was afraid of her," he replied, then claiming yours truly was at least indirectly to blame. "I saw this article from Paul Henderson. He talked to [teacher B] and she said I was probably a drunk because my car had a lot of dents in it. I was afraid she was feeding him information because he was writing horrible articles about me.”
I'm not sure what Neufeld was talking about regarding the neighbour and the drunk comment. But I've certainly forgotten more stories than I remember writing.
Privileged information? In-camera meeting? Barry's an open book
Monday wrapped up coming full circle with the BCTF lawyer asking Neufeld about various ways he seems to have shared privileged information, including violating the publication ban on the names of teachers by sharing them with supporters in Alberta.
Circling back to the beginning regarding his difficulty in uploading files to OneDrive, an online file sharing system. This was before he had a lawyer so he was sharing the files for supporters helping him. The BCTF lawyer asked Neufeld if he knew that Pierre Barns, an anti-LGBTQ activist, had shared the names of the teacher witnesses and other privileged information on Twitter/X and on Facebook.
"I just learned now," he claimed.
"You were aware that he had your materials?" she asked, referring to Barns. "You were OK with Pierre Barns having them?"
He then re-explained how he couldn't get them to upload to a file sharing site so he put them on USB sticks and couriered them to Barns.
"You know Barns was not your lawyer?" she asked.
"No. He was working closely with Kari Simpson, who was my lay counsel at the time," Neufeld said. Simpson is another prominent anti-LGBTQ activist.
"After the Nov. 26 hearing, I called your current counsel to say we found this OneDrive that Barns had posted to X," the BCTF lawyer put to Neufeld.
"I only knew that someone from the CTA knew the documents were available [online]," he replied.
"On Nov. 26, you knew the folder contained materials that had names on them that were protected by the publication ban?" she asked.
"Yes.... I knew we were supposed to keep the names of the witnesses secret, which I think is unjust," Neufeld said.
"Are you aware that after Mr. Barns took the publication ban-protected material off the OneDrive, he then posted links to the OneDrive on Facebook as well."
"No I was not aware of that."
"You were aware the OneDrive had privilege?"
"I have nothing to hide," Neufeld said, ignoring the fact that sharing the names of people protected by a publication ban has nothing to do with whether or not he has anything to hide.
"You are aware that I wrote to your counsel on Dec. 2 to remind your counsel about some of our conversations?"
"Yes."
"Shortly after we sent that letter, it was taken down," the lawyer posited.
"No. I thought it was still up there."
"Would you be OK if it was still up there?" she asked him.
"Yes," he said.
If this all sounds familiar, it should. Neufeld, like Heather Maahs after him, only adheres to Robert's Rule of Order and the legal obligations of elected officials when it suits him. In November 2020, Neufeld was banned from future school board in-camera meetings for the remainder of that school year because of a privacy breach.
Send this tribunal down under
The BCTF lawyer asked Neufeld if understood the difference between a criminal court and a civil proceeding and this human rights tribunal. He said he did.
Why, then, at the top of his fundraising page does it say, with an ever-changing set of numbers, "Time Elapsed Since Barry Neufeld Charged With Hate Crime: 7 years, 0 months, 27 days."
"You'd agree 'charged' is different than 'accused'?" she asked.
"No. A lot of people think I'm charged," he replied.
The lawyer pointed out that people think that because he is sharing that piece of disinformation.
"What do you think of the BC Human Rights Tribunal?" she asked.
"It’s a kangaroo court," Neufeld replied. "I know you’ve already found me guilty. The [BCHRT] has evolved into the most hateful organization we have in our province."
The hearing was adjourned Monday, Feb. 24 to continue March 10.
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Paul J. Henderson
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