Freedom of Speech and Addressing Transgender People

We live in a time when controversy about sex definition has never been so topical as is today. Perspectives on the subject are very diverse and multifaceted as the author tries to present in the article. Activists who are transgender or otherwise identify themselves want to be addressed with neutral pronouns such as »they« or with new alternative words, such as ze, xu, hir, zim, zer, thon, zhe and ve. In this direction also the legislation began to change and provoked a debate on freedom of speech. New Canadian federal law (C-16), which paves its way through the Parliament tend to include the terms gender identity and gender expression into Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. This article analyses events that happened at the University of Toronto where Professor Dr. Jordan Peterson objected to the introduction of the law, highlighted the problem of coercion with the legal technique of prescribing the use of exact words, political correctness and arguments for such violation of freedom of speech.