Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside
is the latest on a lengthening list of Canadian municipal officials to
suffer harassment from human rights tribunals over refusals to proclaim
Gay Pride Day in their communities.
Mayor Woodside says he has
no intention of proclaiming any sort of pride days, gay or otherwise, despite
a New Brunswick Human Rights Commission ruling that he discriminated against
gays and lesbians by turning down their request for an official Fredericton
Gay Pride Day in 1995.
If the mayor, as the chief
elected representative of Fredericton's citizens, proclaims Gay Pride Day,
it implies that the community endorses the gay political agenda. Woodside
presumably believes that a majority of Frederictonians do not support that
agenda, and does not wish to betray his mandate.
If the mayor is mistaken
in his interpretation of that mandate, the people can vote him out in the
next election. If someone wants to oppose him on a gay rights platform,
they are entitled to do so.
Subverting democracy
That's how democracy is supposed
to work. Second-guessing of the people's elected representatives by unelected,
unaccountable, politically biased, quasi-judicial kangaroo courts like
the Human Rights Commission amounts to a dangerous subversion of democracy.
Discrimination is not the
issue here in any legitimate sense. The mayor has not interfered with any
bona fide rights or activities of gay and lesbian individuals by refusing
to proclaim Gay Pride Day. He has merely declined to put the stamp of municipal
government approval on a political agenda that most of the people who voted
him into office disagree with and that many find morally repugnant. That's
called "representative government," not "discrimination."
However, if he sticks to
his guns, Mayor Woodside may face some rough sledding ahead. Provincial
Labour Minister Rory Lieshman, who is responsible for the Human Rights
Commission, gave the mayor until January to settle his differences on this
issue with the gay rights activists, after which a board of inquiry will
be convened.
London mayor fined
In October of last year,
the Ontario Human Rights Commission fined the City of London, Ont. and
its mayor Diane Haskett, $10,000 for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Day.
It also ordered Mayor Haskett to make a public statement praising the "valuable
contributions of gays and lesbians to her community." To her eternal credit,
Mayor Haskett has refused to comply with the latter edict.
At a press conference, Haskett
said, "I will not bow down to the ruling of the human rights commission
and I am willing to bear any consequences of that.
"If this ruling is left unchallenged,"
said Mayor Haskett, "any Canadian can be forced to say what they don't
believe ... The implications are so staggering it should be a matter for
legal review."
Haskett then announced that
she would withdraw from public life during Ontario's recent municipal election
campaign, saying that she trusted the people of London to make their choice
based on her record in office. The voters returned that trust by re-electing
her on Nov. 10.
In April 1994, a Saskatchewan
Human Rights Commission board ruled that Regina police chief Ernie Reiner
violated Saskatchewan's human rights code when he refused to issue a permit
for Gay Pride Day in his city. In June 1994, a complaint was laid against
the city council of Saskatoon for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Week.
In 1995, the OHRC ordered
Hamilton Mayor Bob Morrow to personally pay a homosexual complainant $5,000
for "mental anguish" allegedly suffered because the mayor refused to proclaim
Gay Pride Week.
Morrow was also ordered to
declare Gay Pride Week if requested, or face even heavier penalties.
In testimony, Morrow stated
that "the Gay and Lesbian Alliance was in fact asking for a declaration
of political support from a political person and as such this request should
not be governed by the Ontario Human Rights Code because expression of
political opinion is a very highly held freedom in our country and should
not be in any way limited."
Political support not a
right
Morrow also argued that political
support isn't a right for any citizen, nor something that legislation should
be seen to require.
To fair-minded people, these
human rights rulings against municipal politicians are an outrage tinged
with fascism. The commissions have served notice that when gay-lesbian-bisexual
organizations request a gay pride proclamation, mayors must say precisely
what the commissions deem politically correct or be held personally liable
to heavy fines.
"Those charged with human
rights violations are denied the right of being presumed innocent until
their guilt is proven," says the activist group, REALwomen, "They are required
to establish their innocence at their own considerable expense, while the
complainant's costs are
underwritten by the taxpayer.
"In short, the human rights
commissions are a betrayal of fairness and decency ... They must
be disbanded."
