Woman Forced To Close Business After Refusing To Wax Male Genitals Of Transgender Person

A Brazilian immigrant living in Canada was forced to close up her small business after refusing to wax the male genitals of transgender LGBT activist Jessica Yaniv, formerly known as Jonathan Yaniv.

Citing discrimination based on gender identity, Yaniv filed a complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal seeking financial restitution. The activist has filed complaints against 15 other estheticians with the tribunal, claiming “gender identity” discrimination, as well, The Daily Wire reported last year. It was not until Wednesday, however, that Yaniv’s identity was allowed to be disclosed.

According to The Post Millennial, Marcia Da Silva claims that she refused to service the complainant “due to safety concerns raised by her husband and alleged harassment on Yaniv’s part and not because of the claimant’s identity.”

During tribunal proceedings on Wednesday, Da Silva said the complaint from Yaniv forced her to close shop, the outlet noted.

“Some of my clients have been very significantly affected on a personal level. [Another client also] closed her business, she has been depressed, anxious, sleepless and that has gone on for a period of many many months,” said Jay Cameron, a lawyer from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms representing Da Silva.

“It is a very serious thing to launch a human rights complaint against a person. My clients are people,” said Cameron. “They have a right to make a living and this has interfered with their livelihood, but also you have the stigma of being associated with this hanging over you.”

The tribunal finally lifted the ban on Yaniv’s identity on Wednesday, which Cameron praised as the “right decision.”

“I don’t think that somebody making complaints to the scale that the complainant is making should be able to hide behind a publication ban and then publicly discuss the cases online,” said Cameron. “My perspective is that the tribunal came to the right decision and I think that’s part of the open court process.”

As noted by The Daily Wire last year, the female estheticians who had complaints raised against them by Yaniv (identified only as “JY” at the time) only serve women and do not offer so-called “Manzilians” — the male equivalent of a Brazilian wax. “The procedure for providing a man with a ‘Manzilian’ is quite different, using a different kind of wax and a different technique,” said attorney John Carpay, president of Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.

Carpay noted at the time that a woman fighting the complaint through to a hearing could cost an esthetician upward of $20,000.

In a tweet posted Thursday, Yaniv framed the shuttering of Da Silva’s business as a win for human rights.

“This is not about waxing,” Yaniv wrote. “This is about businesses and individuals using their religion and culture to refuse service to protected groups because — they — don’t agree with it or the person and use that to illegally discriminate contrary to the BC Human Rights Code and the CHRC.”

In a pinned tweet, Yaniv identified as a “proud lesbian” who has vowed to “never give up fighting for human rights equality.”