News Blackouts on Transgender cases prevent public scrutiny and oversight of the Judges who order them

Judge Bernadette Farnan, right.

It was revealed today that New Zealand Judge Bernadette Farnan ordered a total news blackout on criminal charges against women’s gold medalist Laurel Hubbard, a fat middle-aged man who competes against female powerlifters, because ‘Gender Identity’. Judge Farnan’s media censorship was successfully appealed by news outlet Stuff.co.nz.

Gavin ‘Laurel’ Hubbard is the son of wealthy cereal magnate and anti-gay political activist Dick Hubbard. Gavin/Laurel was a mediocre male weightlifting competitor until 2017, when he decided to compete in the female category using over broad ‘Gender Identiy’ protections for transgender people as a shield.

Middle-aged male Gavin Laurel Hubbard occupying the women’s podium

Hubbard was charged with criminally careless driving after an October 24, 2018 incident where he rounded a left hand turn at such high speed that his car fishtailed and he crashed into a vehicle being lawfully operated by a couple in their 60’s, both of whom suffered severe and debilitating injuries. The female victim suffered multiple broken ribs and the male victim received a severe spinal injury which required a long hospital stay, surgical repair, and extensive rehabilitation which is still ongoing.

Judge Bernadette Farnan dismissed criminal charges against Hubbard, suspended his driving privileges for one month, and awarded nominal damages- less than $13,000.

From Stuff.co.nz:

The High Court in Invercargill this week overturned the suppression orders after an appeal by Stuff.

At sentencing on February 4, Judge Bernadette Farnan discharged Hubbard without conviction noting she was a first offender, the low level nature of the accident, Hubbard’s remorse and the reparation payment. She disqualified her from driving for a month (the normal disqualification is six months) and ordered her to pay about $13,000 to the Australian couple.

In a rare move, the judge also suppressed Hubbard’s name until September 30, so Hubbard could train for qualifying events for the Olympics without the distress caused by social media comments responding to publicity about the charge.

She suppressed her ruling and any submissions made in open court and said the media could publish only her name and the police summary of facts when the suppression lapsed on September 30.

Judge Bernadette Farnan’s ruling not only prevented public scrutiny of Gavin Hubbard but also, conveniently, public oversight of the Judge’s own ruling. News blackouts ordered by judges prevent public scrutiny of the activities and rulings of the judges themselves.

Suppression of public scrutiny of criminal charges against men based on the presumed negative reaction of the public to charges raised against them raises a terrifying precedent, but the Hubbard case is not unique. In Canada, news reportage on the case of sexual predator Jonathan “Jessica” Yaniv, a lunatic racist sexual predator who has targeted vulnerable immigrant women for abuse via loopholes in the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has been also subject to a judiciary media blackout by the judge in charge, Devyn Cousineau. Cousineau is a long term financial sponsor of transgender groups which claim that children who don’t conform to sex stereotypes are born in the wrong bodies and need medical and surgical correction.

Orders scrutiny of her own rulings illegal. Judge Devyn Cousineau: Brazilian waxing is a critical care procedure for women

Devyn Cousineau has previously ruled that Brazilian waxing is a critical care procedure [pdf] for women, required to uphold our ‘Gender Identity’, without which we would apparently expire. How much more sexist and homophobic a ruling could there be? Such a claim could never stand up to public (or pubic!) scrutiny.

Judges who rule to censor their own proceedings in transgender cases do so to protect themselves from scrutiny for their insane and illogical rulings. This is obviously true in the cases like Hubbard and Yaniv that have since been exposed which involve men famous for their predatory activities against women and girls. These men are already famous for their campaigns against the human rights of women and girls. The sole reason for judges to censor the press is to prevent the fourth estate from reporting on the judges themselves. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I can’t help but wonder: What else has been suppressed?