Commission: Catholic Magazine not Hateful
TORONTO, July 5 (UPI) — A small Roman Catholic magazine was not creating hate literature by publishing materials that oppose homosexual rights, a Canadian commission has ruled.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission ruled Catholic Insight did not promote hatred against gays and lesbians despite its outspoken stance, The National Post reported Saturday.
The legal battle was brought by gay activist Rob Wells and lasted more than a year, costing the magazine $20,000 in legal fees.
Yet despite his legal victory, the Rev. Alphonse de Valk, editor of Catholic Insight, was hesitant to celebrate since the case could be appealed.
It’s good news, of course,” he said following Thursday’s ruling. “But I don’t want to start celebrating prematurely. If it’s appealed to the court, then we may be spending another year on this.”
The Post said Volk has adamantly denied Wells’ allegations that the publication was hate literature, saying the activist misconstrued published works to make his case.
“All of his charges were false and we proved that,” Volk said. “He plucked quotes from several different articles to give the impression that we were spreading hatred … it’s just not true.”
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Well, this is not the last word on the complaint against Catholic Insight’s website.
The Commission did find that Catholic Insight’s messges were offensive. Now, it appears that the Federal Court will have do decide if the Commission was correct in dismissing the complaint, or if the Commission was biased, homophobic, or politically motivated to deny human rights protection to gays and lesbians..
Let’s see what the Federal court has to say on this issue!