I assume that just about everyone on DailyKos is all for homosexual rights (just to be clear, I'm not). So this story will be interesting.
See, a gay rights activist won a major victory in Alberta recently (May 30th), yet he won a victory that will probably prove Pyhrric. In short, he won the right to censor any speech that is even "disparaging" to homosexuals. Yep, victory through repression and censorship!
Here's the basic facts of the case. Back a few years ago, during the gay marriage debate that raged in Canada, a certain pastor, Pastor Boissoin in Alberta, wrote a letter that was published in the local paper.
Now, this letter was strongly worded, attacking such stuff as gay rights activists plotting to indoctrinate students in schools, and other stuff that probably would make most dailyKosians cringe. But he based his letter in his belief that Christianity considers homosexual behavior as a sin. In other words, he was doing his job as a Pastor in trying to stand up for the set of morals he believed in (that is, after all, the job of a church to have a stand on moral issues).
Local professor Lund took offense at this letter, and filed a complaint about Boissoin's letter to the local Alberta Human Rights Commission. This Commission has quickly gotten a reputation for hating speech (in fact, one of their leaders has gone on record as saying free speech is just an American concept and not worth anything).
Ultimately, Boissoin was found guilty of "inciting hatred" and violating "human rights rules", with the commission explicitly saying that the Canada Charter of Rights (the equivalent to our Bill of Rights), which protects freedom of speech and religion, was overruled by the rights of Mr. Lund to not be offended.
On May 30th of this year, Boissoin was sentenced. Here's what was slapped on him: A $7500 fine, for starters. But the real punishments came in that the Human Rights Commission ordered him to never ever say anything "disparaging" about homosexuals or homosexual rights ever again. Not in an email, not in a sermon, to anyone. In short, he was gagged for the rest of his life.
Not content with that, the commission further ordered that Boissoin has to issue a public apology for his letter. In other words, he has to basically recant his religious beliefs by order of a Canadian governmental authority.
And third, he is also forbidden from ever "disparaging" his accuser, Professor Lund--no matter what happens. In other words, he can't ever say anything about the man who hauled him to court.
Note that the Commission explicitly said that no one can be identified as being injured by Boissoin's letter.
To recap, Boissoin has to apologize for his religiously based opinion and state he was wrong; he can't ever preach a sermon on morality again, and he can't ever mention anything bad about the man who hauled him into a "court" that has never found anyone innocent--ever.
As the Calgary Herald opined, "this must be seen for what it is: the kind of recantation squeezed by an inquisition from some unfortunate, a denial of conscience for the sole purpose of grinding the dissenter's face into the dust, the better that he may eat his words."
Here's a link to the ruling straight from their website (a PDF): Link
Here's some of the relevant text:
Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall cease publishing in newspapers, by e-mail, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals. Further, they shall not and are prohibited from making disparaging remarks in the future about ... Lund or ... Lund's witnesses relating to their involvement in this complaint. Further, all disparaging remarks versus homosexuals are directed to be removed from current Web sites and publications of Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc.,
This is similar to the case of Catholic Priest Father de Valk, who is being investigated for quoting from the Bible and other Catholic teachings, including words of Pope John Paul II on homosexuality. He's also being investigated for "Hate speech."
Now, my commentary: This is an outrage, though doubtless many here at DailyKos are perfectly happy by this. I say that judging from commentary I've seen elsewhere on this story. But star courts and tribunals that say gay rights wins because anything opposed to it is hate speech and must be recanted, regardless if it is religious speech or not, is a pretty much guaranteed way to rapidly increase resentment of gay rights.
This ruling, and others like it around the world, pretty well answer the question "Why should you care whether or not I marry another man?" It's because people can now foresee how in the future telling your child that they should be straight will be a form of hate speech to be punished by force of law.
After all, this pastor Boissoin is now forbidden from ever trying to persuade anyone that being homosexual is not the best idea. That includes his own children, if he has any.
Is this what Gay rights activists want? To forcibly use the power of government to bludgeon their opponents into silence? What happens if Boissoin defies the Human Rights Commission--will he be sent to jail?
And is that what gay rights groups want, to eventually "reeducate" everyone on gay rights on pain of being sent to prison?
One more question: Is the right of a gay activist to not be offended mean that the freedom's of religion and speech should be curtailed? I note that the Boy Scouts of America are now in Philadelphia being told that because they don't support gay rights, their rent will be increased hundreds of thousands of dollars annually--on a building they built and gave to the city and now lease from the city and have for over 80 years. I don't quite know how that squares with the idea that same-sex marriage doesn't impact anyone except the two people who want to marry.
I know I'll be flamed, but I really wanted to see how the people at DailyKos respond to the idea of government forcing and mandating a particular point of moral view. I suspect that many of those here will be all for "screwing those evil Christians who are so homophobic; I hope they all go to jail, the intolerant bastards." On the other hand, many might even be concerned about the government dictating what speech is allowable and what isn't.
For those who believe that this is Canada, and not the US: the same kind of thing happened recently in New Mexico, where a photographer was fined several thousand dollars for refusing to be the photographer at a Same-sex wedding. Again by a human rights commission. So don't think this isn't happening here.