David Bernstein said on Volokh that Canada was unfree, even quoting someone calling
it a "totalitarian theocracy", and Crooked Timber has a response
with lots of comments. Neither mentions specific cases, but there's already been one
prosecution, conviction, and failed appeal.
WORLD
magazine reported in March on Hugh Owens in Saskatoon, who was fined $4500 (by a
one-woman panel-- no jury right here) for quoting Leviticus in a newspaper ad. The
newspaper was fined the same amount. He appealed to a federal court, which confirmed
his guilt and said he deserved to be punished.
Three homosexuals sued Mr. Owens and the newspaper under the provincial human-rights
code. It forbids publication of text and symbols that would expose people to hatred,
ridicule, or "affront of dignity" on account of their sexual orientation. A one-woman
panel of the human-rights commission ruled in their favor, saying the inclusion of Bible
verses elevated the ad to violation of the code. She ordered Mr. Owens and the newspaper
to pay each man $1,500 (WORLD, July 21, 2001).
The federal court rejected Mr. Owens's appeal in December, noting that "the biblical
passage which suggests that if a man lies with a man they must be put to death exposes
homosexuals to hatred."
A federal court in Saskatchewan ruled in December that the Bible amounted to hate
literature. The decision received next to no notice in the nation's press. The case
involved Hugh Owens of Regina, who ran an ad in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on Gay Pride
Day in 1997. It featured only four Bible references (Romans 1:26-32, Leviticus 18:22,
Leviticus 21:13, and 1 Corinthians 6:9) without quoting from them, an equal sign, and
two stick men holding hands inside a red circle with a diagonal slash through it--
similar
to highway and street signs forbidding certain actions. Mr. Owens said he was seeking to
draw the public's attention to biblical teaching about homosexuality.
Note that the fine was $1,500 for each person aggrieved . Thus, a group of 500
homosexuals could have bankrupted Owens and closed down the newspaper.
I've been on a moratorium on the topic of homosexuality, by the way, but the moratorium has ended and I expect I'll be visiting the topic now and then.
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