SURREY, British Columbia, January 17, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – An investigative journalist who alleges that a transgender activist, infamous for bringing lawsuits against female beauticians who refuse to wax his genitals, punched him in the head intends to sue the man in civil court.
Earlier this week Keann Bexte of Rebel News filmed an altercation outside a Surrey, British Columbia courthouse in which Jonathan “Jessica” Yaniv approached him and allegedly punched him in the head. Bexte issued a public statement last night asserting that he is going to make sure justice is served in his case ― even if the criminal justice system is reluctant.
“I will cooperate with the RCMP’s criminal investigation, but the problem with that is, it’s ultimately in the hands of politically-sensitive police and prosecutors,” the reporter said.
“They could agree to a plea bargain; they could even drop the charges outright, in response to political or media pressure — something Yaniv is very good at generating.”
Bexte indicated that he is going to take control of the situation by starting a civil lawsuit with another Rebel News reporter, David Menzies, who was also recently assaulted by Yaniv. In the August incident, Menzies filmed Yaniv hitting him with a cane.
Bexte explained that they are suing Yaniv to show him that “he’s not allowed to physically assault journalists, even if he doesn’t like their questions.” The lawsuit is also about, he said “self-respect” and “deterring a serial harasser.”
Yaniv, who is male, first attracted widespread public attention by using the British Columbia Human Rights Commission to attempt to sue beauticians who refused to wax his genitals.
His attempt failed: the tribunal turned the tables and accused him of using the law to punish ethnic minorities he thought were hostile to homosexual and transgender rights. Yaniv was forced to pay damages to three of his respondents, two of whom had stopped working. Some of them could not speak English.
“Most of Yaniv’s victims didn’t know how to fight back — they were new immigrant women who didn’t have access to justice and possibly didn’t even know they could sue him,” Bexte said in his statement.
He estimated that the lawsuit will cost “as much as $40,000”, but believes it is worth it.
“…it’s about finally standing up to a bully who is so brazen that he actually felt confident attacking me, right outside a courthouse where he was already on trial for weapons offences,” the reporter said.
“Someone’s got to finally stop him, and it looks like it has to be David and me.”
In a Twitter statement, Yaniv accused Bexte of “harassment” and “mischief”:
“There’s a difference between ‘journalism’ and harassment and mischief,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
“The ‘reporter’ committed harassment and mischief stalking me for 5 hours after being banned from the courthouse.”
The transgender activist alleged that someone named “Donald” was in prison for similar behavior.
Yaniv’s attention-grabbing behavior does not stop at using the provisions of the British Columbia Human Rights Code to sue beauticians. Last July he requested permission from the City of Langley, BC for “ LGBTQ2S+ organizations” to host a topless ‘All-Bodies Swim’ at its municipal pools “for people aged 12+”. Parents and “caretakers” were barred from admittance.
Yaniv is also alleged to have contacted underage girls online, and screenshots of his comments about whether he would see nude girls in women’s change-rooms and about menstruation of 10- to 12-year-old girls have circulated on the internet. In a tweet pinned to the top of his Twitter feed, he described himself as a “proud lesbian.”
“One proud Lesbian,” he wrote last June. “I’ll never stop fighting for human rights equality.”