Where are homosexuals leading us?

To be a faithful and outspoken Catholic in Canada today can be fraught with danger and is likely to become even more so in the years to come. God is still named in the preamble to our constitution (despite the efforts of homosexual activist MP Svend Robinson), but there is a growing hostility and intolerance towards religious believers. Besides the persecution of government initiated lawsuits and jailing of peaceful prolife picketers, Christians should be very concerned about proposed changes to the hate crime provisions of the Criminal Code as regards "sexual orientation", to biased human rights commissions, and to the hostility of many homosexuals and their supporters towards those who condemn homosexual activity as unhealthy and immoral.

Changes proposed to Hate Crime Law

In November, 1998, the federal and provincial Attorneys General unanimously agreed that Canada's hate law (S. 319 of the Criminal Code) must be changed to include new categories of "hate". As it stands now, S. 319 states that it is a violation of the law to incite hatred "against members of an identifiable group distinguished by colour, race, religion, or ethnic origin." If the new changes are passed into law, the list will be expanded to include a number of new grounds, including "sexual orientation".

What does this mean? The police will be empowered to seize what is deemed anti-homosexual hate propaganda on computer drives, and what should be most disturbing, the truth of a statement may no longer be regarded as a defence in court. What this could mean is that someone like Reform MP Dr. Grant Hill, who stated that homosexuality is an unhealthy lifestyle, could be arrested and jailed.

In what must be a new height in the realm of the farcical, British Columbia Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh claimed that the proposed changes to the Criminal Code will have no effect on "freedom of expression and all those other values we cherish". (The NDP government of B.C. currently bans people with pro-life opinions from regional health boards and has people arrested for carrying pictures of the Virgin Mary within 50 metres of an abortion clinic.)

What hate crime is being committed?

In a March 24, 1999 editorial, the Ottawa Citizen questioned why we need tougher hate crime regulations when "the numbers of hate-related acts are so small that talk of increases or decreases is largely meaningless." Crimes committed that are hate-motivated (assaults, vandalism, etc.) are few, but hate-propaganda convictions are almost nonexistent. According to the Canadian Centre for Justice statistics, Canada had fewer than half a dozen hate propaganda crime convictions in the past 25 years.

To gain support for the notion that the law needs changing, the federal government has funded the distribution of 40,000 survey forms by Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE), a national homosexual lobby group. According to the March/April, 1999, issue of Reality, the monthly publication of REAL Women of Canada, "the Department of Justice wanted EGALE to have control of the data, which were mainly designed to reveal 'the need for a hate law to protect homosexuals and to serve as propaganda to back a proposed amendment to the hate crime section of the Criminal Code."

Government and homosexual rights

Regardless of whether there is a need for homosexuals to be protected from perceived hateful speech or not, the Criminal Code will likely be amended soon due to political pressure, although no one on Parliament Hill seems to know exactly when. Despite opposition from Church groups and members of the Prime Minister's own party, in 1995 the Criminal Code was hurriedly amended to make it mandatory for judges to impose stiffer sentences if it could be proven that crimes such as assault were motivated due to a person's race, religion, ethnic background, or sexual orientation. Only a year later, in May 1996, the Chretien government moved just as ruthlessly to pass Bill C-33, which inserted "sexual orientation" into the Canadian Human Rights Act, thereby raising homosexuality to the same level as race and ethnic background (see "Battle over C-33", CI, June 1996, pp. 12-13).

To understand the influence and power that homosexuals wield with the Chretien liberals, one should read what is published in the homosexual press. The April 19, 1996 edition of the highly political "lesbian and gay" Ottawa journal Capital Xtra, revealed that John Fisher, the executive director of EGALE, had "a strategy meeting" with the then federal Justice Minister Allan Rock "to map out details for the introduction of legislation that would amend the CHRA to include sexual orientation."

The same magazine pointed out that when Jean Chretien's speech writer, gay rights activist Jim Oldham, died of AIDS-related lymphoma, his memorial service was attended by "a large number of colleagues from the Hill, including the prime minister, cabinet ministers, and political staff." Mr. Oldham was a former columnist for Capital Xtra. According to fellow columnist David Pepper, he continued to read the publication "faithfully" and "made sure to follow up on negative comments made by Liberal MPs."

Anger directed at religious believers

Although some have swallowed the notion that homosexuals only wish to change the hate law to gain tolerance for themselves, observant Christians know better. When some isolated outrage is said to have been directed against what homosexuals describe as their "community", the insinuations of hate motivation directed against religious leaders often rise to the level of hysteria.

For example, after it was reported in 1998 that homosexual University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered, Pope John Paul II and Rev. Jerry Falwell were partially blamed for his death in a letter that appeared in the Globe & Mail. Because the Pope has called homosexuality an "intrinsic moral evil", he was said to have given "licence" to the men who were alleged to have killed Shepard. "The mainstream church--most specifically the Roman Catholic--" the writer claimed, "has contributed to the belief that gay people deserve what they get, and all too often what they get is murdered." This absurd letter was followed by another only two days later recommending a massive education drive to protect homosexuals from "certain religious zealots, including His Holiness Pope John Paul II."

After I wrote a column in the Ottawa Citizen condemning the proposed changes to Canada's hate crime law, a barrage of angry letters was published in response. Trevor Banks, a vocal member of the Canadian Humanist Association, stated that my column as well as "some parts of the Bible" should be classified as "hate literature", and therefore subject to criminal prosecution.

When Sylvia MacEachern, editor of the Catholic publication The Orator, in a radio interview condemned the new AIDS curriculum intended for Catholic schools, she heard from an Ottawa Citizen reporter that she was under investigation by the Ottawa-Carleton Hate Crime Unit. When she phoned the police to confirm if this was true, she learned that it was, although no charges were going to be laid in response to a complaint that had been received.

In response to a peaceful demonstration by Christians in 1996 against an Ottawa homosexuals' parade through the city, the head of the Ottawa-Carleton Hate Crime Unit stated in a letter sent to the homosexual tabloid Capital Xtra: "I knew these demonstrators were not welcome by many of the participants of the parade, but without any legal grounds for arrest or removal of the demonstrators our hands were tied." Continuing in the same apologetic vein, the police officer stated: "The matter has been forwarded to the legal department of the regional government for an opinion on possible bylaw infractions committed by the demonstrators."

Christians and human rights commissions

Just as ominous for Christians as the proposed changes to the Criminal Code, are the human rights commissions that operate at both the federal and provincial levels in Canada.

According to the July/August 1998 edition of Reality, the chief federal Human Rights Commissioner, Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay, said on the CBC national radio program, The House, that the largely Christian-based REAL Women group was "spreading lies" and "encouraging discrimination" in regard to homosexuals and that REAL Women's material constituted "hate literature". She also suggested that homosexuals take legal action against REAL Women, although there were no grounds for such action. Her well-known predecessor, Max Yalden, was an ardent promoter of homosexual "rights", having been responsible for several well-publicized proddings of Prime Minister Chretien for not including sexual orientation in the Canadian Human Rights Act. On May 15, 1998, the homosexual publication Capital Xtra ran a full-page ad announcing that Ms. Faladeau-Ramsay would be presenting the keynote address to a conference entitled "Queering The Nation", the basic principles of which would be to "challenge boundaries", "develop strategies" , and "empower".

Provincial human rights commissions and "gay pride"

Like their federal counterpart, the provincial human rights commission tribunals have come under fire from critics because they are not bound by the standard rules of evidence required by the regular courts, or the traditional legal standards of procedural fairness.

Mayors of Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Fredericton, a police chief of Regina, and the City Council of Saskatoon, have all been the subject of complaints by homosexuals to provincial human rights commissions. Most of the complaints have had to do with a perceived failure to proclaim special recognition for homosexuals.

London Mayor Dianne Haskett took the courageous stand of refusing to proclaim a so-called Gay Pride Week. She and her city council were fined the then maximum of $10,000 (which is a considerably higher figure today). Standing up to what London Free Press columnist Herman Goodden called "the entire anti-democratic farce", Haskett stated: "I stand on my right as a Canadian to freedom of expression and that means choosing what I will say and what I will not say." Further she stated: "I will not bow to the ruling of the commission and I am willing to bear any consequences of that."

Recently, a man who dresses as a woman launched a complaint when he was not allowed to use a ladies' washroom in a Victoria bar. A British Columbia human rights tribunal awarded the man $2,000 because he had been made to feel upset, humiliated and like a "failure".

Commission head and Act-Up

The Ontario Human Rights Commission is presently headed by Keith Norton, a self-declared homosexual who has claimed that "every person has the right to be free from discriminatory or harassing behaviour that is based on religion."

Ironically, in the July 14, 1996 issue of the Ottawa Citizen, columnist Jim Coyle quoted Norton as saying that although he was uncomfortable with the group's tactics, he had "developed a respect" for the activists involved in Act-Up, a militant homosexual organization. In the October 1994 issue of the U.S. magazine Crisis, Act-Up was described by William Donohue, president of the U.S. League for Religious and Civil Rights, as "a gay terrorist organization" that "had broken into St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York) in 1989, interrupting Mass and spitting the communion host on the floor." Gwen Landolt, National Vice-President of REAL Women, has stated that when Norton was chairman of the Federal Human Rights Tribunal, he "selected adjudicators who have granted, without exception, special benefits to homosexuals."

In addition to Norton, two homosexual activists--Carmen Paquette, described in homosexual magazines as "president of Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere", and Tom Warner of the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights--have also been members of the 12-member Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Besides imposing fines on municipal politicians for not proclaiming gay pride days and the like, the Ontario Human Rights Commission under Norton has demanded that Toronto transit allow bus transfers to carry ads for homosexuals. It has also pursued businessman Scott Brockie, who came to the Commission's attention when he refused--on the grounds of being a Christian--to print the stationery for an organization called the Lesbian and Gay Archives. Mr. Brockie, who owns a print shop, received a letter from the OHRC, stating that an inquiry would be launched regarding his 'discrimination' against Mr. Ray Brillinger, a representative of the Lesbian and Gay Archive. Mr. Brockie was compelled to hire a lawyer in an attempt to defend himself. The case has not yet been decided.

Homosexuals and anti-Catholic bigotry

Given their penchant for accusing opponents of homosexual activity of discrimination and "homophobia", one might assume that homosexual activists would be the last people to indulge in expressions of bigotry and hatred. Such is not the case, especially in the nation's capital.

Shortly after it was announced that Mother Teresa of Calcutta had died (August 1997), Andrew Griffin, a militant former member of Queer Nation, began attacking her reputation and character in regular columns that appeared in a widely distributed street tabloid named Ottawa X Press. Incredible as it may seem, Mr. Griffin, who calls Christians who oppose expansion of homosexual rights "bigots", wrote that Mother Teresa was "Albanian rubbish", "a swindler", a "witch" and a "chimpanzee lookalike". This same man also wrote that it is an insult to even call oneself a Christian and that "religion is a danger to be constrained, if not eliminated..."

When Mr. Griffin's attacks on Mother Teresa were brought to the attention of the Department of National Defence, which was an advertiser in Ottawa X Press, Lieutenant-General D.N. Kinsman cancelled further ads, stating that "it is apparent that this publication has consistently expressed its views in a most objectionable manner."

Not content to confine his attacks to one publication, Mr. Griffin also used the pages of Capital Xtra to call Mother Teresa an "obnoxious Albanian hag" and His Holiness Pope John Paul II a name so offensive that the chair of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Association referred to it in a letter published in Capital Xtra as a "hateful assault on the most respected Christian leader in the free world".

Double standards

In January, 1999, Human Life International, the Catholic Civil Rights League, the Canada Family Action Coalition and Women for Life, Faith, and Family complained to the Hate Crime Unit of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police. The answer wasn't long in coming. According to the minutes of a February "liaison" meeting attended by police and homosexuals, and, incredibly, with the editor of Capital Xtra present, Sgt. Patrick Callaghan of the Hate Crime Section informed those present that Mark Moors, the Assistant Crown Attorney given the case, ruled "the articles do not constitute hate literature by any means." Although a brochure distributed by the police themselves states that a hate crime incident could include "name calling", no charge was laid.

Once he learned of the complaint's dismissal, Mr. Griffin used the March issue of Capital Xtra to insult the Pope in the same manner again. Displaying a remarkable degree of hypocrisy, EGALE ran an advertisement encouraging readers to "count the number of popes" that appeared in the magazine and win tickets to their annual political gala on Parliament Hill. This advertisement appeared on the facing page beside Mr. Griffin's hateful attack on the Holy Father. Please note that, in 1996, EGALE lobbied heavily to ensure that judges would give stiffer sentences if anti-homosexual hate-motivation could be proved.

Newton Steacy, national director of the Catholic Civil Rights League, viewed the dismissal of the complaint as a "farce". Michael Coren, in his July 6, 1999 column in the Ottawa Sun, expressed a similar sentiment when he observed that "gay newspapers frequently make dreadful remarks about Catholics and evangelicals and no action is taken." Ironically, commenting on the threatened appearance in Ottawa of Fred Phelps, a U.S. anti-homosexual zealot who displays signs with hateful comments directed against homosexuals, Sgt. Patrick Callaghan stated that "if this was done against a Catholic or a Jew or a black person, charges could be laid."

Other examples

The previous head of the Ottawa-Carleton Hate Crime Unit, Sgt. Bruce Watts, dismissed hate-motivation regarding two vandalism attacks on Catholic churches that had followed the same weekend after the appearance in Ottawa of rock star Marilyn Manson, a Florida-based bigot who has equated Christianity with "fascism" and ripped up bibles on stage (Catholic Register, December 1, 1997). At one of the churches, St. Mary's, the head of the Virgin Mary was neatly cut off, which indicated a planned and deliberate attack. St. Mary's had also displayed a petition against the Manson concert that was available for parishioners to sign. Although no suspects were ever charged, Sgt. Watts said there was no evidence they were hate crimes.

In the spring of 1999, Capital Xtra reported that a man left a message about a UFO conspiracy group on the answering machine for Carleton University's so-called Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Centre. The man charged that "bisexuals, homosexuals (are) soon to be eliminated by the Roman Catholic Church". Although the campus police and the Ottawa-Carleton Hate Crime Unit were notified, and the caller was identified, no hate crime charge was laid. Recently, however, when a Toronto evangelical Christian disseminated pamphlets and telephone messages suggesting that all Muslims in Canada are terrorists, he was charged and convicted of inciting hatred.

Police and political correctness

In recent years there has been a radical change in how homosexuals view police and how they, in turn, view homosexuals.

In Toronto in 1996, a Metro police constable in full uniform attended a meeting in support of the sexual orientation amendment to the Human Rights Act, with the permission of police Chief David Boothby.

In 1997, homosexual MP Svend Robinson was endorsed by the Canadian Police Association as one of its favourite politicians despite the fact that he spent time in jail for defying a court order.

In the Ottawa-Carleton region, David Pepper, a homosexual activist who helped initiate the Hate Crime Unit, is Police Chief Brian Ford's senior assistant and community development director. In his now discontinued regular Capital Xtra column, Mr. Pepper, who was an assistant to MP Svend Robinson for eight years, wrote that former MP Roseanne Skoke, who is a devout Catholic, had taken up "the cause of homophobia and hatred on the Hill."

When the same Sgt. Bruce Watts, mentioned above, left the Ottawa-Carleton Hate Crime Unit to accept other duties, a smiling picture of the officer and a story describing his work on behalf of homosexuals appeared in Capital Xtra. This is the same homosexual magazine that Sgt. Watts had earlier received a complaint about, concerning the use of a vicious ethnic-based slur to describe Mother Teresa.

The media and trouble in academia

If the relationship homosexuals have with the police is something to be concerned about, their influence with the media is something equally as troublesome. When he was writing a regular column for the Financial Post, Michael Coren was told by an "embarrassed" employee of the paper that he had to "stop writing about gays and gay issues."

Douglas Fisher, the senior parliamentary columnist for the Sun newspapers, stated in a June 16, 1996 column that it has been "hard to miss the growing bias in the media against those who resist approving homosexuality." Mr. Fisher accused the then editor of the Globe & Mail, William Thorsell, of "promoting homosexuality--editorially, in features and in news choice and display, even unto Gerald Hannon and the esthetics of man-boy love."

In 1997, an Alberta radio station that broadcasts the Christian-based Focus On the Family's program became the object of a complaint from a Red Deer homosexual activist to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC). This year, a Winnipeg radio talk show host was fired when he led a public campaign against a committee that would have examined ways to eliminate "homophobia" in Winnipeg high schools.

Numerous complaints from homosexuals have also deeply affected the climate at Canadian universities. The most recent example occurred in the spring of 1999, when Hymie Rubenstein, a professor of anthropology at the University of Manitoba, distributed a two-page flyer at a Winnipeg school board meeting listing what he considered to be 18 myths spread by homosexual activists. The flyer was written in response to an openly lesbian trustee's attempt to create an "anti-homophobia committee".

Professor Rubenstein said in his flyer that "homosexuality is a denial of one of the most important functions of family life, the perpetuation of life itself through procreation." According to a National Post editorial (April 21) the flyer was a "controversial but reasoned reply to the claim that homosexuality is inborn, commonplace, and socially harmless."

The university's student union leaders filed a complaint to the university accusing Professor Rubenstein of having distributed "hate literature." The student leaders also accused him of having violated the Manitoba Human Rights Code, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. According to The London Free Press, the professor defiantly retorted: "This is what political correctness is all about. This is the sort of fascism you get in universities today."

Compassion, rights, and tolerance

When Christians are one day forced into court or even sent to jail because they have publicly condemned homosexual activity in some newly prohibited way, it will be justified in the name of compassion, rights, and tolerance. As Canadian prolifers know all too well, it was Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Charter of Rights and Freedoms that was used to strike down the abortion law and ultimately to lead to the killing of over a hundred thousand unborn babies in Canada every year. It was then the Bob Rae NDP government of Ontario that acted to "protect" the rights of abortion workers. This led to a draconian injunction and the jailing of prolife picketers which is still going on today.

Persecution due to opposition to homosexuality may well unfold much more fiercely than persecution due to abortion unfolded. Already, the unelected courts have elevated the practice of homosexuality from an aberration to a right, and now the vilification of those who are out spoken in their disagreement has begun in earnest. As the American Catholic historian and author James Hitchcock has warned, a society that will accept homosexual activity will not disapprove of very many things.

Robert Eady is an Ottawa director of the Catholic Civil Rights League and a contributing editor to Catholic Insight.