Anti-gay letter led to gay-bashing, prof says:

[Praxius]

Anti-gay letter led to gay-bashing, prof says

CALGARY - A controversial letter that compared gays to pedophiles and called for action against the movement for homosexual rights "fostered the hate" that led to an alleged assault two weeks letter on a gay man, a human rights hearing in Alberta was told Monday. Darren Lund, a University of Calgary professor who filed the complaint that led to the hearing, said the letter written by Rev. Stephen Boissoin and published in the Red Deer Advocate newspaper in 2002 made homosexuals targets for violence. The assault that later took place in Red Deer, for which charges have never been laid, reportedly began with the victim being asked if he was gay. "This letter clearly invokes militaristic language that is likely to incite hatred," Lund said. Monday marked the first day of a three-day hearing into Boissoin's letter. In it, Boissoin wrote that "war has been declared" against the gay rights movement. Boissoin went on to attack gay activists for "spreading their psychological disease," saying they were "just as immoral as the pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps that plague our communities. "Where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds," he wrote. "From kindergarten class on, our children, your grandchildren are being strategically targeted, psychologically abused and brainwashed by homosexual and pro-homosexual educators. "Your children are being warped into believing that same-sex families are acceptable; that kissing men is appropriate."

Wait a min..... you mean girls have to understand that it's not appropreate to kiss men? I guess men are not allowed to be kissed

Jill Wilkie, who represented Boissoin at the hearing, argued that punishing him for his letter would trample his right to free speech. She also took aim at the Alberta government, which is intervening in the case in support of Lund. "It appears that the Alberta government in 2007 is attempting to restrict freedom of the press," she argued. Lund, a married father who is not homosexual, is a longtime human rights activist. He has won the Alberta Centennial Medal and a national education award. Gerald Chipeur, Boissoin's lawyer, said the case would be Alberta's "most significant constitutional case involving human rights legislation that has ever been considered in Alberta." The letter doesn't fall under the legal definition of discrimination, he added, because those laws weren't meant to censor or restrict public debate. Between the letter's publication and Monday's hearing, Boissoin launched an unsuccessful $400,000 defamation suit against Lund. If the panel finds that Boissoin broke provincial law, it can order him to apologize and pay a fine, which usually doesn't exceed $10,000. A national gay rights group, meanwhile, has said it won't be supporting Lund. EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) has said that Boissoin has a right to express his opinions in public, even though the group vehemently disagrees with them. "It is far better that Boissoin expose his views than have them pushed underground," the group said in 2005. "Under the glaring light of public scrutiny, his ideas will most likely wither and die." Boissoin has been getting support from Concerned Christians Canada Ltd., a Christian lobby group he used to head at a local level that is also named in the human rights complaint. There have been public voices supporting Boissoin in the past five years, including American religious rights groups and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Wow..... you know you're on the right side of the battle when you got the KKK backing you up :eek: :rolleyes:

Some Christians, I tell ya..... I think sometimes they've had too many rock richocets that hit their noggins when they're out stoning Satanists and Non-Believers.