Swiss Man Jailed Over Social Media Post Declaring Only Two Genders
by David Lindfield
A Swiss man is set to serve 10 days in prison over a Facebook post declaring it is “a mental illness” to deny that there are only biological men and women.
Emanuel Brünisholz was jailed after refusing to pay fines for the “illegal” post.
Brünisholz, a wind instrument repairman, was hit with penalties under Switzerland’s anti-discrimination law after writing:
“If you dig up LGBTQI people after 200 years, you’ll only find men and women based on their skeletons.
“Everything else is a mental illness promoted through the curriculum.”
The post was made in response to Swiss National Council member Andreas Glarner.
Brünisholz’s comments drew complaints from LGBT activists who claimed it amounted to “public incitement to hatred” under Article 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code.
The law, which dates back to 1995, initially targeted racial and religious hate speech.
However, it was expanded in 2020 to cover wrongthink on sexual identity.