Someone In The Canadian Government Called Trump "Transgender" And "Homosexual"
Someone using a Government of Canada computer wrote last month that Donald Trump was "Transgender" and "Homosexual."
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Wisconsin on April 4, 2016.
Kamil Krzaczynski / Reuters
The Wikipedia editor, using an Internet Protocol (IP) address registered to the Correctional Service of Canada, vandalized a page called "Political positions of Donald Trump" on March 16.
In a section titled "LGBT Issues," the editor added "Trump is open a Homosexual Transgender [sic]" to a sentence about Trump's views on marriage.
"Even though Trump is open a Homosexual Transgender, Trump has stated that he supports 'traditional marriage' (i.e., he opposes same-sex marriage)," the sentence read.
Someone using the same IP address then changed the beginning of the sentence to: "Even though Trump has openly stated he is Homosexual."
Trump has been married to three women and has made many comments over the years about his attraction to various female celebrities.
Another Wikipedia user reverted the changes minutes later.
Kamil Krzaczynski / Reuters
It isn't the first time the federal correctional service has been linked to questionable Wikipedia edits. Last year, CSC was investigating "offensive and inappropriate” edits made by the very same IP address.
One edit called porn star Peter North a "big queer," while another said that Fenbrook Institution was "known to house the largest concentration of Homosexual Inmates in the entire Ontario Region.”
The IP address, responsible for hundreds of Wikipedia edits in recent years, is likely shared by multiple computers on the CSC network.
Government employees have to respect the internet usage rules set by their departments and by Treasury Board. “CSC employees are expected to act according to the highest legal and ethical standards,” a spokesperson told the Ottawa Citizen last year, adding that correctional officers are allowed to use work computers during breaks.
Since then, someone has posted a warning on the IP address' chat page saying that it's "being watched by the press and Correctional Service Canada!"
We've reached out to CSC and will update this post when we hear back.
