Lindsay Shepherd is a Canadian writer and anti-transgender activist. Shepherd is part of the so-called intellectual dark web, described as a gateway to the far right.
Background
Lindsay Shepherd was born on December 7, 1994 and grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia. Shepherd earned a bachelor’s degree form Simon Fraser University, followed by a master’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2018.
Anti-transgender activism
Shepherd became a cause célèbre among transphobes from the “academic freedom” faction after a 2017 classroom controversy at Wilfrid Laurier University. Shepherd showed students two clips of Jordan Peterson criticizing Canada’s Bill C-16, which added gender identity and expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the list of characteristics of identifiable groups protected from hate propaganda in the Canadian Criminal Code.
Shepherd was called into a meeting with administrators after a student complaint, and Shepherd’s supervisor agreed to review Shepherd’s future class materials. Shepherd secretly recorded the meeting and released it to the press, which led to apologies from Shepherd’s supervisor and the college president. The university opened an independent inquiry that found no wrongdoing by Shepherd. The incident led to lawsuits by Shepherd and Peterson, as well as countersuits against Shepherd.
Shepherd appeared in the 2019 film No Safe Spaces to discuss the incident.
In 2019 Shepherd began work with anti-trans organizations Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms and True North Centre for Public Policy.
The Boston Herald identified Shepherd as a member of the intellectual dark web. Praising “intellectually curious podcast hosts like Dave Rubin and Joe Rogan,” the anonymous editorial lists “victims of these progressive mobs”:
People like Jordan Peterson, Eric and Bret Weinstein, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas Murray, Christina Hoff Sommers, Steven Pinker, Ben Shapiro, Lindsay Shepherd and Owen Benjamin, to name just a handful.
Shepherd was briefly banned from Twitter in 2019 after exchanging insults with litigant and troll Jessica Yaniv.
Shepherd has written for several anti-trans publications, including The Post Millennial, Maclean’s, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, and Quillette.
References
Editors (May 14, 2018). Editorial: Truth requires free thinking, honest talk. Boston Herald https://www.bostonherald.com/2018/05/14/editorial-truth-requires-free-thinking-honest-talk/
Krishnan, Manisha (July 16, 2019). Free Speech ‘Activist’ Lindsay Shepherd Was Banned From Twitter. Vice https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwnbxd/free-speech-activist-lindsay-shepherd-was-banned-from-twitter-and-its-very-sad
Hutchins, Aaron (December 11, 2017). What really happened at Wilfrid Laurier University: Inside Lindsay Shepherd’s heroic, insulting, brave, destructive, possibly naïve fight for free speech. Maclean’s https://macleans.ca/lindsay-shepherd-wilfrid-laurier/
Myers, Fraser (July 23, 2019). “I was banned for trans heresy.” Lindsay Shepherd on the Jessica Yaniv balls-waxing controversy. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/07/23/i-was-banned-for-trans-heresy/
Amundson, Quinton (May 16, 2021). Lindsay Shepherd carries on fight for free speech. The Catholic Register https://www.catholicregister.org/item/33101-lindsay-shepherd-carries-on-fight-for-free-speech
Resources
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Twitter (twitter.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)