And the beat goes on .........

Barbara Findlay - Lawyer and would be slayer of knights' rights.






The lesbian couple and their lesbian rights advocate Barbara Findlay have revealed their true motives for taking the Knights of Columbus to the B.C. Human Right Commission. According Doug Beasley in the Edmonton Sun:

An Edmonton lesbian couple is set to launch a court challenge of Canada's gay marriage law - and force the issue back onto the federal agenda in the midst of a bitter and divisive election campaign. Tracey Smith and Deborah Chymyshyn plan to appeal a recent decision of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, which declined to punish the Knights of Columbus for refusing to allow the couple to use their hall in Vancouver for their wedding reception.

"This is going to be the first real legal test of the (same-sex marriage law)," said the couple's B.C.-based lawyer, barbara findlay (who spells her first and last names with lower-case letters). "We want the court to make the call - how far does freedom of religion extend under the charter? Where do we draw the line?"

..... Smith and Chymyshyn planned to hold a reception following their wedding on Nov. 1, 2003. They rented the K of C hall - apparently unaware that the Knights are a Catholic fraternal organization.

CANCELLED RESERVATION
They paid a deposit and issued invitations. In September 2003 the K of C - informed that the happy couple was, in fact, a same-sex duo - cancelled their reservation. In its ruling, the tribunal concluded the K of C was acting within its rights when it refused to allow Chymyshyn and Smith to use the hall.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The federal government stressed the point during the summer debate in the Commons over the gay marriage bill that religious institutions would not be compelled to sanctify same-sex unions.

However, the tribunal did find the Knights guilty of humiliating the couple, and ordered them to pay Chymyshyn and Smith a $2,000 penalty. Findlay said that's not good enough. "Basically the Knights were punished for bad manners, not discrimination," she said. "We won the battle. We're nowhere near winning the war."

OPEN POLICIES
Findlay - who specializes in gay and lesbian rights cases - said she wants the B.C. Supreme Court to at least order religious institutions to make their policies known to couples before they sign contracts. "Freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination are both guaranteed by the charter," she said. "Sometimes, two human rights can step on each other."

So there you have it. As Barbara Findlay has made clear. It wasn't about hurt feelings (the Knights apologized for the misunderstanding), or additional expenses (the Knights offered to reimburse them for out of pocket expenses). Given the above comments, a reasonable person might well conclude that the human rights complaint was a set up. This is all about getting the court to, "draw the line" on religious rights.

I've said it before. Nothing must be allowed to impede the advancement of the homosexual activist agenda. Nothing. This is scorched earth warfare folks and it's all being done in the name of tolerance.

Speaking of tolerance, David Warren has just written an excellent piece on the word and its development into the moral hingepin of modern liberal society.