An example of the potential repercussions of the U.S. Equality Act can be observed in a Canadian case involving a certain Robert Hoogland, who refused to call his biologically born female child by the gender she identifies with: male.
Hoogland was arrested on Tuesday when a judge issued a warrant accusing him of being in contempt of court, after the Canadian father spoke about the case in public and referred to his transgender child "daughter" and using pronouns "she" and "her."
Christian Headlines reported that Hooglan was in fact ordered by the court not to discuss the case in public and was to call his child "son" and use the child's preferred pronouns, "he" and "him." The Canadian father refused to comply with the court's orders and even created a fundraising website describing his plight as a "BC father fighting medical transitioning of 14 year old child."
In the fundraising campaign, he claimed that he is "fighting the far left based on a civil disobedience defense." His five-day criminal trial will occur on April 12 to 16, which he claimed "could land me in jail for up to five years for speaking truth about state sponsored child abuse."
Hooglan and the mother of his transgender child are separated and are on opposing sides when it comes to the child's gender issues. According to The Post Millennial, his child had "complex problems'' on "gender dysphoria." When the child was younger and then idenfied as female, she had "intense crushes on male teachers" and "made a suicide attempt."
The Canadian father later found out that the British Columbia school the child attended had been showing students SOGI 123 -- "sexual and gender identity education materials" that "amounts to transgender ideology 'propaganda videos.'" Hooglan also discovered that the school independently made the decision to "'socially transitioned' the biologically female child on its own initiative," with some input from a gender ideologue psychologist.
Hooglan's ex-wife also signed papers agreeing to let the child undergo an "experimental treatment plan" to make the child's body appear more male-like. The Canadian father wanted a different, psychological approach to address his child's problems without any drugs.
"Here I am, sitting there as a parent, watching a perfectly healthy child be destroyed, and there's nothing I can do but sit on the sideline according to Justice Boden at the time. I can only affirm, or get thrown in jail," Hooglan said sadly. The court believed that Hooglan's consent was "irrelevant" and the judge ordered him to comply with referring to his child as his "son" and use "him" and "his" pronouns.
"There's a child-and not only mine-but in my case, my child out there having her life ruined," Hooglan said, as per The Christian Post. His attorney is now fighting to have him released following a claim that the detention is "unlawful." They hope to adjourn the trial on his criminal contempt of court charge until after the April 12 hearing.
This is only one of many examples of how the Equality Act may impact transgender children in the event that it gets passed into law in the United States. While the Equality Act may seem to advocate for the LGBT community, it can also set the stage for the persecution of conservatives and parents who only want to secure their child's wellbeing.
