Ricky Gervais takes aim at transgender activist on Twitter
Image: Ricky Gervais during his infamous 2016 Golden Globes monologue.
Source: Entertainment Tonight - Youtube
Celebrity comedian Ricky Gervais has targeted a transgender activist who complained that a gynaecologist refused to see her.
Canadian trans activist, Jessica Yaniv took to Twitter to yesterday to vent about her experience, saying she was shocked she was refused treatment.
“So a gynaecologist office that I got referred to literally told me today that ‘we don’t serve transgender patients’,” she wrote.
“And me, being me, I’m shocked … and confused … and hurt.
“Are they allowed to do that, legally? Isn’t that against the college practices.”
32-year-old Yaniv is a male to female transgender woman who has not had sex-reassignment surgery, meaning she still has male genitalia.
However, the UK comedian responded with the following tweet: “It’s disgusting that a qualified gynaecologist can refuse to check a lady’s cock for ovarian cancer.
“What if her bollocks are pregnant? She could lose the baby. I’m outraged.”
Yaniv said the College of Physicians and Surgeons confirmed to her that the gynaecologists’ refusal is discrimination and against their code of ethics.
Yaniv also stated that she would file a complaint against the clinic.
“Trans people need to be included, not excluded from society,” she said.
“Pre and post gender affirming surgery care is super important!”
Ms Yaniv said she wanted help and couldn’t get it.
Earlier in October, Yaniv lost a human rights lawsuit after she sued five home-based waxing experts for refusing to wax her testicles, claiming the women were discriminating against her “based on gender identity and gender expression”.
Yaniv filed various complaints against the beauticians, causing one to go out of business, as she was seeking as much as $15,000 in damages from each.
The female beauticians argued they were not trained to perform a Brazilian on male genitalia and could have caused severe injury to the customer, with the human rights tribunal ruling in their favour.
“Human rights legislation does not require a service provider to wax a type of genitals they are not trained for and have not consented to wax,” the verdict stated.
The tribunal has since ordered Yaniv to pay $2000 to each of the three beauticians represented.
UK-born Gervais is known for attacking “PC Culture”, and has been embroiled in previous controversies over comments on trans individuals individuals.
While hosting the 2016 Golden Globes, he deliberately used Caitlyn Jenner’s dead name during a sketch on how much people have “changed”.
“I’m going to be nice tonight,” he said on while stage.
“I’ve changed — not as much as [Caitlyn Jenner] … What a year she’s had!”
Jenner had come out as a transgender woman in her iconic Vanity Fair photoshoot only months before, in 2015.
In both NSW and Queensland, transgender individuals are still legally required to have to have both sterilization and surgery – just to change a gender or sex marker on their own personal birth certificate in 2019! Please focus on this outrage on this continuous human rights violations right here in both Australia and the US! Canada has always been light-years ahead of us here in Australia on transgender issues – no province over there legally requires surgery and sterilization just to change sex or gender on a birth certificate. The European Court of Human Rights two years ago said “this was a complete violation of an individual’s human rights and anatomy”. I just ignore silly fake outrage these days to things that truly matter to spend my energy on!
Frankly, I agree with Ricky. Like … what happens once she gets in there? Hope he doesn’t need to swab inside!
But seriously, if we let people see gynaecologists based on what gender they identify as now, not based on their genitals, then trans men who have vulvas would be locked out of pap smears, cervical cancer tests, and all the other stuff that I have no idea about (dude with a dick here!).
Ricky is a wonderfully progressive man, but he also doesn’t suffer fools.
Dear Star Observer,
You defend this ‘Canadian Trans Activist’ (which is a stretch calling them activist) as their past legal actions (which you have included in the article and that I have previously come across in other media) doesn’t paint them in a good light to begin with. This current situation is in the same vein as the prevous incidents, the context being that it’s not about the gender label (trans) it’s about providing a service to people with ‘female’ parts, and your activist does not currently have ‘female’ parts. All that this ‘activist’ has accomplished to date is nuisance lawsuits and disrespecting the trans cause.
Regards, Arthur
As a trans woman, I can’t imagine why a pre- or non-operative trans woman would need to see a gynecologist unless they were making the appointment for a later time when the typical genitalia that gynecologists are concerned with might be in place. That said, it also doesn’t surprise me the type of attention her actions have attracted. Would I laugh at Gervais’ comments if in an audience when they were said – perhaps I would because personally I don’t see this incident, or Gervais’ comments offensive.
Come to think of it, from the information given in this article, I’m also rather supportive of the position of the beauticians with no experience or training of waxing testicles.
Shoot me down if you disagree with my position, but I’d be interested to know why others might think otherwise.