BBC News
By Hannah Price
image copyrightGetty Images
image captionThe law bans what is known as the rough sex defence, where the accused claims that the violence was consensual. File image
This week the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill became law. A number of significant amendments have been added since it was first introduced in 2019, after campaigners called for the government to go further. The rough sex defence has been banned, non-fatal strangulation has become an offence in its own right and threats to share intimate images has become illegal.
BBC News spoke to victims of domestic abuse about what the passing of this bill means to them. Their names have been changed for their protection.
The Death Of Cindy Gladue, And The Criminal Defence Tactic That Should Alarm Every Woman in Canada
Canadian experts have noted a rise in attempts to argue that a woman s severe injuries or death resulted from consensual sexual activity. Danielle Paradis Updated
February 26, 2021
Protesters outside Edmonton’s city hall in 2015, in support of Cindy Gladue. (Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Topher Seguin)
This column contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.
In mid-February, almost 10 years after Cindy Gladue died, Bradley Barton was found guilty of manslaughter. The verdict was the culmination of a half-decade legal battle for Gladue’s mother Donna McLeod, during which she had to endure repeated and graphic descriptions of the sexual violence Gladue endured in her last hours, and her daughter’s total dehumanization by Barton and his lawyer. Lisa Weber, a Metis lawyer with close ties to the family, says they feel a mix of exhaustion and energy after the
Protesters demonstrate against transing children outside Connecticut Children s Hospital in Hartford, Conn., on Feb. 14, 2021. | Courtesy of LGB Fight Back
Parents of transgender-identifying teens held protests outside children s hospitals that house transgender clinics in six cities across the United States and Canada in a joint effort spearheaded by these families and a recently-formed LGB group.
Rallies were held in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Hartford, and Ontario, Canada on Valentine s Day to protest against the use of experimental drugs and cross-sex hormones on youth who are struggling with same-sex attraction, are on the autism spectrum, or suffering from depression or other mental struggles.
Last modified on Wed 17 Feb 2021 06.03 EST
The case of five men jailed for engaging in consensual sadomasochistic sexual acts is one of the few judgments that most law students actually read, and the facts tend to stay with them. The appellants in R v Brown had been convicted of actual bodily harm (ABH) and wounding. A majority ruling in the House of Lords said the fact that the men had consented to the acts, which included inserting fish hooks through the penis and nailing foreskin and scrotum to a board, provided no defence.
The ruling on consent, and the limits of the intrusion of criminal law in people’s sexual relationships, has been criticised by many since as paternalistic and homophobic.