Gay gag law

Calgary Sun ^ | April 9, 2004 | Link Byfield

[Clive]

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[Puppage]

Gay gag law

I....er, ah...oh, never mind. It's too easy.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Gay gag law

The jokes keep telling themselves.

[Conspiracy Guy]

You beat me to it.

[muawiyah]

Is this a problem?

Canada never had freedom of speech anyway. For most of it's history it's been very little more than an expanded Hudson's Bay Company. Why the homosexuals want to take over the place we can only guess.

Maybe it's the blankets, eh?!

[Puppage]

LOL. Great minds...............

[Conspiracy Guy]

I type too slow.

[Agnes Heep]

Even though it's Svend's personal bill, it has been rammed through the Commons, and almost through the Senate ...

They need to use a little more Vaseline on that Senate.

[backhoe]

It is my belief that there is a group of ideas so toxic that I label them "poison ideas"- once you swallow them, their convoluted internal logic makes you so sick that you can no longer reason your way out of the semantic box they trap you in.

"Hate Crimes" is one of those- it sounds like an idea any decent person would support, but its real purpose is to squelch and silence opposition.

[Publius6961]

If ever there was an issue tailor made for civil disobedience!

An interesting conundrum. The perverts are empowered and enabled by the rest of us. All of us, whether actively or by simply becoming spectators.
Even here at FR, it is assumed that saying certain words or stating certain beliefs is "not acceptable". One step away from "hate thought", that ultimate of all crimes.

"Laws" such as the proposed one are probably more responsible for negative thoughts and negative feelings among people otherwise disposed to live and let live, and ultimately contributing most to the inevitable future explosion. If the deviants don't lighten up, the resulting backlash among the normal will be harsh, long and quite final.

[zook]

I think this is going to leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

[BSunday]

Now that's what I would call an unfortunately worded title.

[Conspiracy Guy]

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[Wolfhound777]

Under C-250, it will become a criminal offence (punishable by two years in prison) to "incite hatred" against gays (and other groups already listed) if the communication is "likely to lead to a breach of the peace." No excuses are allowed under this section (319.1) of the Criminal Code. It doesn't matter if your statements are true, honestly held, or based on religious texts. (A religious defence is allowed for the following section, 319.2. But it doesn't help if you are charged under 319.1.) This means if any provincial crown prosecutor thinks your comments are over the line, and persuades a judge that your public remarks might (sooner or later) endanger persons or property in the protected groups, you're going to jail.

This is scary as hell. We can never let this happen in the United States.

[happygrl]

Canada needs a Bill of Rights.

Not that the Black-Robed Tyrannts wouldnb't do their best to undermine it, as they have here in the US.

[tdadams]

Hugh Owen, a Saskatchewan prison guard, was punished for publishing Bible references... Scott Brockie, a Toronto printer, was punished for refusing on religious grounds to work for a gay advocacy group. B.C. high school teacher Chris Kempling was punished for mentioning the health consequences of gay behaviour...

Now it's true that these people were not charged criminally.

It does seem that the PC thing is being taken too far in Canada, but I find it curiously vague that this article keeps say these people "were punished", but then states they weren't criminally charged.

If that's the case, I would like to know in what way they were punished. It seems very pertinent to the premise of this article, and the omission of that information seems striking.

[Clive]

Hugh Owen was prohibited by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission (a quasi-judicial, quasi investigatory body) from further publishing his ad in any form including publishing it as a bumper sticker and the newspaper was prohibited from accepting any further ads of this sort from him. Additionaly, the paper and Owen were each ordered to pay the two complainants $1,500 each.

This despite the hearing officer conceded in her decision that: "There is no question that Mr. Owens believed that he was publicly expressing his honestly held religious belief as it related to his interpretation of the Bible and its discussion of homosexuality."

Scott Brockie was fined $5,000 by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. On appeal, the court narrowed the court's decision to exempt people who refuse on conscientious grounds to support an activity that they find repugnant to the core beliefs of his religion but they left the decision and the fine in place because what Brockie had refused to do was to print letterheads for a gay and lesbian organization.

The British Columbia College of Teachers suspended Chris Kempling for one month for publishing his views on homosexuality in a series of letters to the editor of a newspaper, on the grounds that he was guilty of "professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming a BCCT member". Note that he was publishing outside of the school system but identifying himself as a teacher. The Court held that he has no right to protection under the Charter (which supposedly protects both freedom of speach and freedom of religion).

Lest you think that it can only happen in Canada, look at the witch hunt that is following Laura Schlessinger, the Rev. Kristopher Okwedy and the Boy Scouts of America.