A Canadian father who was thrown in jail after “misgendering” his gender-confused teenage daughter has scored a legal win in the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
A judgment issued earlier this month said Robert Hoogland did not have to spend any more time behind bars, and the court dropped an order for him to pay a $30,000 fine.
“I expected that I would finish — if not all of that six months, a big chunk of it [in prison],” Hoogland told The Daily Wire in a phone interview. “This is a huge win, because what it does is it was setting a precedent – and what they wanted was a real deterrent for parents, especially when they are standing up against the trans agenda, with what’s being pushed through the schools, by the school counselors and all of these different things.”
Hoogland — who was featured anonymously in the Daily Wire documentary “What is a Woman?” — took legal action after a Canadian children’s hospital in 2018 told him that his daughter, who was then just 13 years old, was going to be injected with testosterone, despite Hoogland refusing to give his consent. In British Columbia, the Infants Act permits minors to consent to their own trans treatments if doctors think it’s in their best interests; parents’ consent is irrelevant.
Disagreeing with the hospital, Hoogland said his daughter needed time and mental health support, not transgender medical interventions that can be irreversible. Testosterone and other trans interventions have been linked to fertility issues, lower bone density, and a host of other problems.
The court said that the girl could move forward with the testosterone and said Hoogland was barred from publicly “misgendering” his daughter, meaning he couldn’t refer to his own daughter as his daughter. Moreover, Canadian media was banned from publishing Hoogland’s name in any coverage via a publication ban. Hoogland told The Daily Wire such bans allow people to hide what they’re doing to children, despite these same people claiming trans treatments are helpful, good, and even lifesaving.
Despite the court conditions, Hoogland continued to speak out and was thrown in jail after he talked about the case and referred to his daughter as his daughter during an interview with The Federalist. For this, Hoogland was found in contempt of court, effectively committing what the Canadian court deemed “family violence.”
“The hardest part is knowing that one day you have a healthy child, and no matter how much you’re fighting to protect that child of yours – who you love, and as a parent, it’s your responsibility to protect your child from these things – that all you can simply do is watch the tragedy unfold, and your hands are tied,” Hoogland said.
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“One day your child is healthy and the next day your child is on testosterone,” he continued. “I think that’s the hardest part of it all, is being — I don’t know what the word is, just it’s helpless, I guess. Just that sense of being helpless.”
The father also notably spoke to Daily Wire host Matt Walsh for the hit documentary “What is a Woman?” — and his appearance was one of the reasons X, then called Twitter, initially canceled a deal with The Daily Wire to host the blockbuster film. X cited concerns over Hoogland — who remained anonymous in the film due to the constraints of his case at the time — “misgendering” his own daughter, by referring to her as his daughter. X CEO Elon Musk stepped in, chastised those who blocked the documentary, and promoted the film.
All told, Hoogland served more than two months behind bars, and most of that time served was in solitary confinement, he said. Though Hoogland says all other inmates used Zoom for their appearances in court, he was shuttled back and forth to the court and therefore had to routinely restart quarantining, per COVID rules. This meant Hoogland was in a cell alone for most all of his time behind bars.
Moreover, a judge was trying to incarcerate Hoogland for four additional months. The family court issue was pushed to a criminal action and Hoogland’s initial legal counsel, he argues, was not equipped and botched that initial plea deal, which included Hoogland serving only 45 days. The judge then went above and beyond and said six months was more suitable for Hoogland to serve. The appeals court, though, agreed with Hoogland, and the three judges decided that the father does not have to spend any more time in jail. They also dropped an order for him to shell out a $30,000 fine, and dropped other court conditions.
“To have a punishment that’s six months in prison and a $30,000 fine — I mean, not many parents are gonna say, ‘Hey, I’m willing to take that risk,'” Hoogland told The Daily Wire, reiterating that this appeal judgment is encouraging for other parents.
“There’s momentum in Canada now, too,” he said. “The tide is turning, and to finally get a big win after just all these horrific losses and the way things were going — I think that’s just critical for morale, at the very least.”
As for Hoogland’s daughter, the father told The Daily Wire that he hasn’t had contact with her since 2019. He said his child is “lost” and his family has been destroyed by this ideology and Canada’s legal system.
“It destroys families and it destroyed mine,” he said. “I‘m hoping one day, when my child realizes, when [she] possibly detransitions — I’m waiting. I’m waiting with open arms for that day.”
“When these kids come back and say, ‘Hey, mom, dad, where were you? I was like, 13, 14. Why didn’t you try and stop me from making this big, incredible mistake?’ At least I can always say, ‘Hey, I tried, and you can look it up online; even I tried really hard and even I wasn’t able to do it with everything I gave it,'” he said. “But I tried … so my conscience is clean on that.”
For now, Hoogland says he’s going to take a break after years of being in and out of court and jail. There is, however, a sixty day period where this can get appealed to the Canadian Supreme Court, so this legal battle could possibly continue.