(LifeSiteNews) — Conservatives are coming to the defense of British Columbia nurse Amy Hamm after was fined over $93,000 for saying gender is based on biology.
In an August 20 post on X, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre denounced a ruling by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) that mandated Hamm pay $93,639.80 in legal fees and suspended her license for one month for her statements opposing LGBT ideology.
“A nurse with a spotless track record gets fined and suspended for pointing out there are two genders, and for praising world renowned author & women’s rights advocate
@jk_rowling,” Poilievre declared.
“This is authoritarian censorship,” he warned. “We must restore free speech and free thinking in a free country.”
Many other Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) also came to Hamm’s defense, condemning the actions taken against her as censorship while voicing concerns over the implications of punishing professionals for publicly voicing their opinions.
“Fining a nurse $93,000 for acknowledging biological sex is punishing her for recognizing a scientific reality required to safely practice medicine,” MP Leslyn Lewis wrote on X. “We cannot ignore that in medicine, biological sex matters.”
“Nurses and doctors have to distinguish between sex and gender in order to treat patients safely — for example, when prescribing medications, diagnosing conditions, or determining appropriate procedures,” she added.
Additionally, Lewis raised concerns over “whether a professional can safely do their job if they are punished for acknowledging biological realities.”
Similarly, MP Andrew Scheer called the ruling “completely unjust,” adding that “everyone who cares about free speech should be outraged!”
Scheer quoted a 1926 warning from British author G.K. Chesterton that read, “We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening a mob with the news that grass is green.”
In March, a ruling from the BCCNM disciplinary panel found that Hamm committed “unprofessional conduct” by publicly discussing the dangers of the LGBT agenda in three articles and a podcast appearance.
Later that month, Hamm shared on social media that Vancouver Coastal Health fired her from her nursing position without severance after she was found guilty of “unprofessional conduct.”
Hamm found herself targeted by the BCCNM in 2020 when she co-sponsored a billboard reading, “I (heart) JK Rowling.” This sign was a nod to the famous British author’s public comments defending women’s private spaces from being used by gender-confused men.
The BCCNM accused Hamm of making “discriminatory and derogatory statements regarding (so-called) transgender people” while identifying herself as a nurse or nurse educator.
According to the college, Hamm’s statements were “made across various online platforms, including but not limited to podcasts, videos, published writings, and social media” between July 2018 and March 2021.
In July, Hamm filed human rights complaints with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal to hold both organizations accountable for targeting her over her beliefs. She has since announced that she is taking her case to the British Columbia Supreme Court.
