(ZENIT News / Ottawa, 02.03.2026) – The former administrator of the Chilliwack Board of Education in Canada criticized an LGBTQ member for posting sexual content and was ordered to pay a $750,000 fine to a Teachers’ Association by a court for expressing his belief that there are only two sexes: male and female.
Barry Neufeld of Chilliwack in British Columbia was condemned by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal because «if a person chooses not to ‘believe’ that gender identity is separate from the sex assigned at birth, then they do not ‘believe’ in trans people. This is a form of existential denial.»
In October 2017, Neufeld posted on his personal Facebook page that the district’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity program was not rooted in biology, but was a social construct: «At the risk of being labelled homophobic and intolerant, I must say that I support traditional family values and agree with the American College of Paediatricians that allowing young children to choose to change their gender is simply child abuse. But now the British Columbia Department of Education has joined the LGBTQ lobby and is imposing this biologically absurd theory on children in our schools. They are being taught that heterosexual marriage is no longer the norm. Teachers should not refer to ‘boys and girls’: they are simply students.”
The Tribunal ruled that the fine would be used to compensate employees identified as LGBTQ who suffered «damage to their dignity, feelings, and self-respect» as a result of Neufeld’s comments. Given that the number of people identified as LGBT on staff between 2017 and 2022 ranged from 45 to 163, the Tribunal expects each affected employee to receive between $4,601.23 and $16,666.67 of the fine imposed on Neufeld.
The lawsuit against Neufeld was filed by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation on behalf of the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association. The former administrator, who has appealed the Tribunal’s decision, was also ordered to pay $442.00 to an anonymous plaintiff identified as «Teacher C» to compensate the former teacher for lost wages due to attending a hearing regarding Neufeld’s personal opinions. The Tribunal concluded that 24 of Neufeld’s publications constituted discrimination and hate speech.
Child protection activist Chris Elston, known as «BillboardChris,» wrote on X: «The Tribunal has declared that all residents of British Columbia must believe in gender identities.» Neufeld commented, «A person doesn’t need to believe in Christianity to accept that another person is Christian. However, to accept that a person is transgender, one must accept that their gender identity is different from the sex assigned at birth.»
Neufeld explained that he felt called to «motivate lukewarm Christians who stand idly by while all of society ‘is dragged towards Gomorrah,'» adding that the promotion of transgender ideology has «demonized people of faith who believe that God created humans male and female: in God’s image.»
The Rights and Freedoms Fundraising Society is raising money for Neufeld’s legal appeal.
