British Columbia’s largest medical testing provider, LifeLabs, has been ordered to pay $32,000 to three patients who identify as transgender and non-binary, saying the lab misgendered and outed them during separate visits in 2019.
decision, tribunal member Theressa Etmanski said the medical testing provider and its subsidiary Excelleris Technologies discriminated against the complainants by “misgendering” and “outing” them during separate visits at Vancouver and Burnaby locations in 2019.
According to the decision document, LifeLabs staff at a Vancouver service centre misgendered Noa Moses when they “refused to accept” Moses’s non-binary gender identity and forced Moses to choose a gender marker of either male or female, saying they would not draw blood otherwise.
Their conversations with Moses during the October 2019 visit took place in two waiting areas where others were present, the tribunal said, noting that Moses, “so exhausted and upset by that point,” eventually pointed to a letter on the paper so that bloodwork could proceed.
“I find this conduct placed Noa at risk of harm and I observe that this practice could have a chilling effect on other trans or non-binary people who ...