A Major Breach Of Trust

Beware! Trigger warning!

The violation of privacy of a support group is probably one of the most egregious crimes there is. Whether it is Alcoholics Anonymous, or Gamblers Anonymous, or a mental help support group, or support group for those with PTSD, or a transgender support group can cause irreparable harm to its members, well it happened in Vermont where a conservative group infiltrated a trans support group with video cameras.

Undercover Video Targets Transgender Vermonters 
Seven Days VT
By Taylor Dobbs
December 20, 2017


Marcus wasn't expecting to go viral when he showed up to an October meeting on transgender health care at the Pride Center of Vermont. But in the months since, hundreds of thousands of viewers have seen his face — and those of a dozen other transgender Vermonters — in a searing video attack posted online by a conservative provocateur.

The video has Marcus and other attendees fearing that they could be outed against their will to family, friends and coworkers — imperiling their livelihoods and, perhaps, their safety.

"Who's going to know, and what they're going to do with that information, you have no idea," said Marcus, a trans man who declined to provide his last name for fear of jeopardizing his career. "Being exposed like that, the only word I can really use is 'devastating.' It shakes you to your core."

The 14-minute video includes footage shot surreptitiously by right-wing activist Steven Crowder, his wife and two associates, all of whom posed as members of the LGBTQ community to infiltrate the meeting at the Pride Center's Burlington headquarters. Titled "UNDERCOVER: Transgenders ACTIVELY Targeting Children and Medicaid!" it uses selectively edited clips to establish an unsubstantiated narrative that transgender activists are improperly using Medicaid to pay for gender reassignment surgeries and other treatments.

Of course in the style of the conservative “stings” it is heavy edited,

True to his brand, Crowder's narration describes the Pride Center meeting in a harsh, mocking tone. He makes no apparent effort to follow ethical standards of filmmaking or journalism. Crowder's sensational title isn't supported by the footage, which mostly consists of participants discussing how transgender individuals can access the American health care system.
[…]
Crowder's video is part of a larger trend, popularized by the conservative agitator James O'Keefe, of using heavily edited hidden-camera footage to "prove" some form of wrongdoing and discredit individuals and institutions. Notable targets of such attacks have included the community organizing group ACORN, Planned Parenthood and, most recently, the Washington Post.

And they chose their targets well because…

Vermont is a "one-party state," meaning it's legal to record a conversation with the permission of just one participant — in this case, Crowder.

"The video was obviously objectionable, and it was inappropriate, but ... we didn't identify any criminal laws that were broken," said Assistant Attorney General Julio Thompson, who directs the AG's civil rights unit. "From the video, it appeared that all of the conversations were in a public setting, so we didn't identify any public statute that would outlaw those recordings."

They picked a state where you don’t have to tell anyone that you are videotaping them.

Since Crowder's video went viral, the Pride Center has contacted each person who attended the October event, Butt said. The organization has also reinforced and formalized its no-recording policy. A new sign posted prominently on the center's front door informs visitors that recording of any form is prohibited inside. Event facilitators at the center are being trained to avoid similar incidents in the future.

I think good legislation is a bill banning filming at support groups without written permission from everyone in the group and ban filming in medical facility.

Connecticut law says...

Summary of statute(s): Connecticut requires at least one party’s consent to record an in-person conversation, and the consent of all parties to a telephonic conversation. The state’s voyeurism law prohibits taking visual images of another person without that person’s consent or knowledge when there is an expectation of privacy.

Hidden cameras: The state’s voyeurism law prohibits knowingly photographing, filming or recording in any way another person’s image without consent in situations where the person is unaware of the filming, not in plain view and has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-189a.