Ontario business owner ordered to pay trans woman $35K over genital waxing launches GoFundMe

Roberto Wakerell-Cruz
  |   June 24, 2024   |   Be the first to comment

The waxing salon owner who was ordered to pay $35,000 to a man self-identifying as a woman has launched a GoFundMe. The ruling came from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (HRTO) which found that the salon failed to accommodate the customer's request to have male genitalia waxed.

Jason Carruthers, the owner of Mad Wax in Windsor, Ontario, was ordered to pay $35,000 plus interest to the unnamed complainant.

"This ruling is unjust and proves that any small business owner can be accused of discrimination," Carruthers says in the fundraiser's description. "This ruling has placed an immense emotional and financial burden on me and my family as we continue the legal fight."

"I'm applying for a Judicial Review to rectify this injustice and I need your support. Please consider donating to my Legal Defense Fund. Every contribution counts," it reads.

"Your support means the world to me and my family. Thank you for standing with us in this fight for justice," it concludes.

The claimant, identified only as AB, filed the complaint at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after he spoke to Carruthers over the phone in 2018. Carruthers explained to AB that that the female employee working that day was Muslim and refrains from physical contact with males beyond her family.

The decision against Carruthers claims that he had misgendered AB, who evidently has intact male genitalia.

The small business owner told Rebel News that the complainant changed the initial story by denying that Brazilian wax service was requested, and instead only wanted a leg waxing. Carruthers says that his business has always provided leg waxing services to trans clients, but that this was never part of the request.

Carruthers told AB that he did not have anyone who could provide "male waxing services," something that Carruthers explained was in reference strictly to male biological genitalia, and not in reference to the claimant's gender.

Carruthers had gone to the media after AB's human rights complaint. That's where he referred to "male Brazilian wax[ing.]" This was enough for the adjudicator to count as reprisal for the human rights complaint.

"They're saying that I discriminated against the person, but they're also saying that I reprised when I spoke to the media. So those two things are factored into the amount," said Carruthers to Rebel News.

AB would claim that the remarks "opened up a non-consensual public conversation as to the status of her physical transition," which caused trauma, according to the decision.

Carruthers told Rebel News in an interview last week that he was considering launching a GoFundMe, as the tribunal has the power to take income and garnish wages to pay the amount. The GoFundMe has since been launched and is seeking $50,000, which will also go towards applying for a judicial review.

The judicial application review says that there is no evidence to suggest that AB suffered from any harm and that the damages charged to his client were "significantly" exceeding the "damages awarded in more serious cases."

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