A court has dismissed a Chilliwack school trustee’s defamation lawsuit against the former president of the BC Teachers’ Federation
Barry Neufeld filed a defamation suit against Glen Hansman last year, after Hansman accused him of making bigoted comments about SOGI 123, a B.C. Ministry of Education resource that provides guidance and support for LGBTQ2 students.
Hansman’s criticism came after Neufeld wrote a Facebook post that said allowing children to choose their gender identity amounts to “child abuse.”
WATCH: (Aired Oct. 24, 2017) Backlash after school trustee criticizes LGBTQ program
A BC Supreme Court judge ruled that while “the defendant concedes that some of his words could be capable of defamatory meaning,” they are defensible as “fair comment.”
“The public has an interest in protecting expressions that relate to public debate,” the judge ruled.
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