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Canadian Pastor Fined; Christians Banned from Voicing Biblical Opposition

From WorldNetDaily:

A Canadian tribunal ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality, according to a new report.

In a decision dated May 30 in the penalty phase of the quasi-judicial proceedings run by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson was banned from expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt...

"In this case there is no specific individual who can be compensated as there is no direct victim who has come forward," [lawyer Lori G. Andreachuk] wrote.

However, that did not stop her from ordering the payment anyway.

And as for the future, she wrote:

"Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall cease publishing in newspapers, by e-mail, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals. Further, they shall not and are prohibited from making disparaging remarks in the future about … Lund or … Lund's witnesses relating to their involvement in this complaint. Further, all disparaging remarks versus homosexuals are directed to be removed from current Web sites and publications of Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc..."

Read the whole article >>

Brazilian Youth Conference Promotes "Diversity"

From LifeSite:

Brazil's first national "Youth Conference", held in the capital city of Brasilia in late April, concluded with a declaration in favour of the legalization of abortion and the creation of an educational system free of “homophobia”.

The 2,280 attendees were given preliminary materials published by the government and bearing the name of President Luiz Lula, which claimed that illegal abortions were causing maternal deaths and that women never die of legal abortions...

Participants were also given government materials that defended homosexuality... "to be homosexual (gay or lesbian), bisexual, transvestite or transsexual isn't an illness, isn't illegal, isn't wrong, and isn't an option.  It's an orientation like heterosexuality, that is to say, another way of living and expressing one's love."

Read the entire article >>

UK Amendment Retains Protections of Free Speech... Just Barely

From LifeSite:

MPs at Westminster voted on Tuesday night to remove protections for freedom of speech from a "hate crimes" bill, but a vote in the House of Lords retained the wording. In a vote of 338 to 136, the House of Commons agreed with homosexual activists who wanted wording removed that would have allowed Christians and others who objected to homosexual behaviour to preach Christian sexual morality in public without fear of prosecution.

Peers in the House of Lords, however, voted today to retain an amendment that allows religious people to claim freedom of religious expression when charged with "inciting hatred". The House of Commons was forced to let the wording remain in the bill due to time constraints.

The amendment says, "For the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred."

Read the entire article >>

UK Couple Wins Back Right to Foster

From the Telegraph:

A couple who were rejected as foster parents after they refused to condone homosexuality have won their battle to apply to be carers.

Derby city council blocked an application from Eunice and Owen Johns to   provide respite care for under-10s after they admitted they could never tell   a child that being homosexual was acceptable.

However, the authority has backed down after the Johns, both devout   Christians, threatened to seek a judicial review.

The couple, who have four grown-up children of their own, were celebrating on   Sunday after learning by letter that they can resume the application process.

Read the entire article >>

Demonstrators Harass Christian Youth in Germany

From The Local:

A traditional Christian youth festival in Germany faced unprecedented disruptions by leftists who hacked the gathering's website, interrupted speeches and threw beer bottles at visitors, organizers said on Tuesday.

Christival, a periodical gathering of Protestant Christian youth in Germany founded in 1976, was meant to be a chance for likeminded young people to meet up and celebrate their faith.

But thousands of attendees at this year’s festival in the northern city of Bremen found themselves under siege by leftist extremists determined to protest what they saw as Christian intolerance to homosexuality and abortion.

“There have never been disruptions of this kind in the entire history of the event,” Christival spokesman Steve Volke told The Local on Tuesday. “They tried to storm the festival area. They threw beer bottles at participants. The whole five days of the festival there was always something happening.”

...“The mood was stirred up beforehand that it was a festival against homosexuality and abortion,” said Volke. “But it was two seminars out of 230 – and complete nonsense to call it a fundamentalist Christian youth gathering.”

Read the whole article >>

Austrialian Churches Rights in Question

From the Sydney Star Observer:

Christian organisations in all states and territories may have lost the right to discriminate against gay people despite religious exemptions in anti-discrimination laws, legal experts claimed this week following a landmark ruling against the Uniting Church’s Wesley Mission.

Homosexuality as an intolerable sin was not a doctrine of Christianity, the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled last month, because there were many dissenting views on the subject among Christian groups generally, and specifically within the Uniting Church.

As long as gay-friendly congregations like Metropolitan Community Church exist, this ruling means Christian organisations don’t have a license to legally discriminate against gays, Brisbane lawyer Stephen Page said.

“Religious exemptions are worded almost identically across all state and territory anti-discrimination laws, so I’d expect other commissions to start citing this case,“ Page told SSO.

“Christian religious schools in the ACT, NSW, Victoria, SA and WA would not be able to use religion as the reason that gay and lesbian students can be prevented from bringing their partners to the school formal.“

The Tribunal rejected the welfare agency’s right to refuse a gay couple seeking to become foster parents as the laws only allowed exemptions for religions, and there was no “religion of Uniting Church”.

Read the whole article >>

Homosexuals Appose Evangelical Youth Event

From Journal Chretien:

A public row concerning an evangelical youth festival and homosexuality has developed in Germany. The federal Parliament, the Bundestag in Berlin, has discussed the subject twice during question time.

Approximately 20,000 young people are expected to attend Christival in Bremen, April 30 – May 4. One of numerous seminars and workshops was supposed to deal with the subject of a change of sexual orientation for homosexuals who are disenchanted with their lifestyle.

But Volker Beck, Parliamentary whip of the Greens in the Bundestag and a practicing homosexual, took offense. He regards “therapy” for homosexuals as “dangerous charlatanism”.

Read the whole article >>

UK Couple Told they are "Unsuitable" Foster Parents

From Daily Mail:

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 20 vulnerable children.

But Eunice and Owen Johns have been forced to abandon their good work because they refuse to tell children as young as ten that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle.

To do so, they say, would go against their Christian beliefs.

The devastated couple withdrew an application to their council to continue as foster carers after being told they must condone homosexuality to adhere to gay rights laws.

Read the whole article >>

Canadian Teacher May Lose License

From LifeSite:

The last half a decade has not been easy on B.C. teacher, Chris Kempling.

In 2003 the soft-spoken educator was cited by the College of Teachers for professional misconduct, after he wrote in to a local newspaper outlining Christian teachings on homosexuality. After a hearing on the matter, Kempling was found guilty of the charges, and his teaching license was suspended for a month.

Kempling appealed that decision in the Canadian court system, all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. In the process he spent "well over" a hundred-thousand dollars in legal fees, he says. In the end, the Supreme Court denied his appeal.

Read the entire article >>

UK Foster Parents Win Right to Live their Beliefs

From Times Online:

Andrea Williams of Christian Concern For Our Nation said: “This is a significant step forward for Christian freedoms in that the Council has agreed not to force Mr and Mrs Matherick to act against their Christian beliefs. This should be of enormous encouragement to all Christians who want to take up the important role of caring for vulnerable children.”

Read the article >>

UK Christians Forced Out of Foster Care by Gay Agenda

From LifeSite:

By Hilary White
CHARD, UK, October 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian couple in Somerset, UK, have been told by child services that they would be required to take teenaged foster children to homosexual support groups and teach the children placed in their care that homosexuality is normal. When the couple told officials at social services that it would violate their conscience to do so, the eleven year-old boy who had been placed with them was removed.

Somerset Council officials cited the recently passed Sexual Orientation Regulations when they decided that people who open their homes to children in need, must also discuss same-sex relationships and promote homosexuality as normal and “equal”.

Vincent and Pauline Matherick have looked after twenty-eight children since 2001 with an untarnished record as care givers. When the couple first started fostering, they took in young single mothers and their babies, but have recently had mostly primary school aged children. They told the Daily Telegraph that officials with the Somerset Council had told them that if a child in their care showed signs of interest in homosexuality, they would be expected to encourage them by taking them to a homosexual support group.

Vincent Matherick, a minister at the South Chard Christian Church and a primary school governor, told the Telegraph, “They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11 year-olds, which I don’t think is appropriate anyway...

Read the article >>

British Christians will not be Prosecuted for their Beliefs, Judge Rules

From LifeSite:

The homosexual political movement in Britain was dealt a rare setback this week as a Northern Irish court ruled to curb some parts of notorious regulations. The Sexual Orientation Regulations of the Equality Act, that came into effect in January, would have allowed gay activists in Northern Ireland to prosecute people expressing religious oppositions to the homosexual lifestyle. The judge struck down the harassment provisions appearing in the legislation for Northern Ireland but supported the Regulations in general. 

According to the ruling, Christians or other religious people will now be allowed to "express their disapproval" of homosexuality in public. 

In his 42-page judgement, Mr Justice Weatherup at the High Court in Belfast,  ordered that the provisions be set aside because not enough time had been allowed for consultation before the government introduced the legislation.

The Christian Institute, a nondenominational Christian charity, with a group of churches, launched a suit against the SOR's. The passage of the secondary legislation was met with protests from Christians, Jews and Muslims who saw in them further encroachment on the principles of religious freedom in the UK.

Read the whole article here >>

Exodus Youth Articles in Spanish

Thanks to the generosity of Ruben Gonzales of Zapatos Nuevos, we are now featuring some of our Exodus Student Ministries articles in Spanish. We've received many requests for Spanish-language resources for youth, but it hasn't been a possibility until now.

Currently, we have Spanish versions of two articles: Gender and Sexuality: Fluid or Solid and What if I'm Still Struggling? Enjoy!

Spanish Articles

Canadian Official Fined for Stating Biblical Stance on Homosexuality

From AgapePress:

A Kamloops (British Columbia) City Council member will pay a hefty fine and also apologize for comments he made about homosexuality at a public meeting last summer. Those comments by the local politician led to a complaint being lodged with Canada’s Human Rights Commission and could have proceeded to a tribunal.

LifeSite News reports that John DeCicco, who is Catholic, made the remarks at a Kamloops City Council meeting in June of last year and repeated them to the media afterward, saying that homosexual acts were "not normal and not natural." A homosexual activist couple filed the human rights complaint against him in August.

DeCicco has now decided to accept a $1,000 fine and make a statement of apology in order to avoid a Human Rights Tribunal hearing. However, the Catholic city official says his opinion has not changed.

Americans for Truth president Peter LaBarbera says his group is warning Christians in the United States that they may face a choice similar to the one DeCicco faced if they allow hate crimes legislation to supplant the First Amendment. "We’re saying to American pastors and American politicians, ’What would you do if you were fined a thousand dollars for saying that homosexual behavior is not normal and is not natural ?’" LaBarbera notes.

What happened to the Canadian city councillor in this instance "is an incredible outrage," the Americans for Truth spokesman asserts. "Free speech," he laments, "is going the way of the dinosaur in Canada, it seems."

U.S. Christians need to take note of how laws in Canada are forcing its citizens to suppress their own speech, LaBarbera says. Such self-censorship puts the opportunity to speak the much-needed truth about homosexuality in danger of dying out altogether, he warns.

"When you have all the burdens of having to go before a tribunal and having to issue a public apology and endure public humiliation just for voicing your beliefs, then there is no longer freedom in that country," the pro-family advocate observes. "We hope and pray that this never happens in the United States of America," he says.

LaBarbera advises believers in the U.S. against self-censoring their speech as he believes many in Canada are choosing to do. Christians, he contends, must not let the truth die out by allowing themselves to be silenced.

New Zealand Deals With "Hate Speech"

From the article http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3795142a10,00.html

           

Church in uproar over gay hate slur

13 September 2006 By ANNA CHALMERS

A slur campaign warning that "gays are a cancer" in the Presbyterian Church has sickened members as they prepare to vote on a ruling banning homosexual ministers.

Bumper stickers have been sent to the Presbyterian Assembly's 500 members nationwide, inflaming an issue that already threatens to split the Church.

The assembly sets the Church's policy and direction.

Members vote later this month on a ruling to exclude homosexuals  and anyone in a sexual relationship outside marriage  from becoming ministers or Church elders.

The bumper stickers, which were sent out anonymously, say "Gays aren't welcome in our church, help us let New Zealand know" and "Gays are a cancer in our church, let's keep them out of leadership".

The Human Rights Commission says the bumper stickers constitute hate speech  but under current laws little can be done.

I highlighted the word anonymously because whoever sent these stickers out obviously doesn't have the courage to be accountable for their inflammatory rhetoric.  Within this context we don't know who made up these stickers.  For all we know it could be along the same lines as clever gay identified activists who made up "heterosexuals only" stickers and applied them to public amenities in Boise Idaho.

Chances are though that these were sent out by someone very frustrated with the increased focus on condoning unbiblical sexuality in the Presbyterian Church.  The Church, as a whole, is supposed to be founded by Christ and His revelation to us through His Life and scriptures.  The frustration is very apparent in the soundbyte messages on these stickers.  The problem is that while the scriptures do call us to have an answer, comparing those with same sex attraction to a horrible painful disease is not a good or accurate way to go.  In other words, these stickers do not provide an answer and instead inflame division.

Truth is, if the church is hijacked by social culture war issues and not primarily focussed on the preservation and propogation of the gospel, it will split.  A church has every right to adopt and enforce a moral code for it's leadership.  The scriptures are very clear that church leadership is held to a high standard of accountability and must be in line with the scriptural mandates set for leadership. People actively engaged in sexual sin (heterosexual or homosexual) do not meet those mandates (included in the link and many other places in scripture.)  The answer is not in stigmatizing people who are in sexual sin but in providing avenues that welcome them into the church, provide resources to help those who are repentant and avenues for service to those who are continually being sanctified and called into ministry.

I would not expect the MCC (gay centered church network) to allow me, a formerly gay identified man who has overcome same sex attraction and called to help others of similar beliefs to do the same, into its membership or leadership. It would be ridiculous of me to expect and want to serve an organization that I can't agree with over what biblical relationships should look like and scriptural authority to define the Creator's intent and call for repentance.  Conservative churchs should have the same freedom to uphold biblical morality as an expectation for their leadership and not hijacked by a pro-gay identified agenda.  All the while, this should be done with respect and not stigmatization.

Sidenote: I am not sure what the "hate speech" laws in New Zealand are but it is a travesty that they even exist.  While I believe stigmatizing the same sex attracted is wrong, it's just as wrong to punish free speech.

Christians & Same Sex Attracted Iranians Face Similar Persecution

From PJ Media

Dutch Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk—who has higher political ambitions—temporarily halts the deportation of Iranian gay and Christian refugees, bowing to pressure from the greater portion of the Dutch Parliament. Pieter Dorsman: “The pre-existing notion that gays or Christians could somehow be safe in a nation like Iran is simply too absurd to seriously entertain…”

If you are Christian in Iran ... you get stoned to death.

If you have same sex attraction in Iran ... you get stoned to death

If you are a Christian who struggles with same sex attraction in Iran ... you get the point.

We have our "culture war" issues and battles over public policy here in the United States that are very important.  Even so, we have the freedom to self-determine the course of our lives and how we identify.  We have great freedom in what we can say and the course of our faith and worship.  Often, here in the United States, we are not grateful for the freedom we have to discuss issues of faith and sexuality.  In many parts of the world, those who are Christian and/or struggling with homosexuality are brutally tortured and murdered.

We must keep this in mind for perspective and seek out ways to intercede (prayer and other ways) for our Christian siblings and for those being murdered because of their sexual orientation.

Homophobia is not some off the cuff comment about Tinky Winky.  Homophobia is what you see happening in Iran.  I am grateful for the Dutch government finally giving asylum to those fleeing Iran.  I pray that those who want to find Christ will and those who want to overcome homosexuality will be allowed their right to self-determine that path for their lives as well.

Note: The quote above lumps everyone with same sex attraction into a "gays" label.  It must be noted that many with same sex attraction do not have to identify as gay nor adopt a gay defined worldview. 

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World Congress of Families Applauds French Government Report on Same-Sex 'Marriage'

http://www.earnedmedia.org/hc02271.htm

"To: National & International Desks

Contact: Larry Jacobs, Vice President/Assistant International Secretariat, World Congress of Families, 815-964-5819, 513-515 3685 cell, media@profam.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 27 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The World Congress of Families is encouraged by the recent report of an official French commission which rejects so-called same-sex marriage.

The government commission, established at the request of the President of the French National Assembly, decided to oppose gay marriage for the most salient of reasons – the welfare of children.

Before it issued the Parliamentary Report on the Family and the Rights of Children, the commission conducted 14 round-table discussions with 130 individuals representing the diversity of French society. Commissioners also traveled to the U.K, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada to assess changes in those countries. It concluded that it was in the best interests of children to maintain the traditional definition of marriage.

World Congress of Families Founder Allan Carlson declared: “Pro-family advocates everywhere are heartened by the report. Mothers and fathers are indispensable. Little Heather’s living arrangement (‘Heather Has Two Mommies’) works best in works of fiction.”

The Report put the matter succinctly, stating it “is not possible to think about marriage separately from filiation (the fact of being a child of certain parents): the two questions are closely connected, in that marriage is organized around the child. Marriage is not merely the contractual recognition of the love between a couple; it is a framework that imposes rights and duties, and that is designed to provide for the care and harmonious development of the child.”

The report noted that same-sex marriage will inevitably lead to adoption by homosexual couples, who would even be able to demand state-support for surrogate child-bearing.

Carlson observed: “When pro-family groups have said the same thing, we were derided by the elite as backward and religion-obsessed. Now a commission of the French government – a nation revered by the liberal chattering class – endorses our position. No wonder the report has been largely ignored in the mainstream media.”

Preservation of the natural family will be prominent on the program of World Congress of Families IV in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007. WCF IV is expected to be the largest international gathering of pro-family leaders and activists. For more information on the upcoming Warsaw Congress, as well as past Congresses, go to www.worldcongress.org.

The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society is an independent, non-profit research and education center that strives to be the leading source of fresh ideas and new strategies for affirmation and defense of the natural family, both nationally and globally. The Howard Center is also the founder and organizer of the World Congress of Families project which unites people of goodwill who recognize that the family is the fundamental unit of society and coordinates the efforts of pro-family groups from more the 60 countries worldwide.

Issuers of press releases and not the Christian Communication Network are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.  Terms and conditions, including restrictions on redistribution, apply.
Copyright © 1999-2006 Christian Communication Network. All Rights Reserved. 

Fanatical Swedish Feminists

http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/kurtz/kurtz200602220826.asp

"With Congress about to take up the Federal Marriage Amendment, let’s travel a little and take a look at how marriage is faring in Scandinavia — specifically Sweden, famous as a bellwether of family change. In 1987, Sweden offered same-sex couples the first domestic partnership package in Europe. This led Denmark in 1989, then Norway in 1993, to set up a more elaborate system of “registered partnerships” (with nearly all the rights of marriage), which Sweden adopted in 1994. I discussed some of these changes in The End of Marriage in ScandinaviaFebruary 2004 piece. yet much has happened since then."- Stanley Kurtz, National Review Online, Feb. 22, 2006

Same Sex Relationships Pose Health Risk

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602080720.html

"Homosexuality is gaining acceptance as a way of life around the world. However, Africa seems to be reluctant. In Germany, immigration officers ask people wishing to become citizens what their stand on homosexuality is. The answer could determine whether or not one's application for citizenship is accepted.

Everything that God has commanded us to do is for our good. For example, in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus, God commands the Israelites not to eat meat with blood in it. Today nutrition experts tell us that meat with blood in it contains dangerous toxins that could be responsible for many debilitating diseases like cancer. A more evident example which is the root cause of some our biggest problems today is sexual immorality, and homosexuality in particular."- Andrew Kitatta, AllAfrica.com, Feb. 8, 2006

Registered Sex Offenders Cleared to Work in UK Schools

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06011202.html

"United Kingdom, January 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ministers in the U.K.’s Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have allowed registered child sex offenders to teach in schools.

Norfolk Police arrested Mr. Paul Reeve in 2003 during Operation Ore, the largest investigation into child pornography Internet rings the UK has ever seen. Mr. Reeve, believed to be in his 30’s, received a police caution for accessing pornographic images of children on the Internet. He was then registered as a sex offender."- Gudrun Schultz, LifeSite News.com, January 12, 2006

Gays don't want to get married

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17688832%255E2702,00.html

"

GAY marriages should be opposed because they would not be popular among homosexuals, Parliamentary Health Secretary Christopher Pyne has declared.

Mr Pyne is opposed to a push by Liberal backbenchers, who are urging Australia to follow Britain's lead and recognise civil unions for gay people.

"I don't favour recognition for civil unions because I think marriage is a heterosexual construct, and I doubt it would be popular amongst homosexual couples, given that it's not a homosexual concept," he said."- Patricia Karvelas, Dec. 30, 2005

UK Author, Broadcaster, Subjected to Police Inquiry for Criticizing Homosexual Adoption as “Homophobic”

A British author and broadcaster was the subject of a police inquiry after she criticized homosexual adoption in a live radio broadcast. - Terry Vanderheyden

Same sex marriage ruling slammed in survey

Gay Marriage Ruling Not Welcomed in South Africa The South African Constitutional Court has made a terrible blunder by ruling that same sex marriages should be allowed. That was the view of most people and religious organisations interviewed during a survey conducted by the Daily News in Durban on Thursday. - Mthembu and Bhavna Sookha

Labour’s Homosexual Agenda: Crushing Free Speech

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0509/S00077.htm

7 September 2005

Labour’s Homosexual Agenda: Crushing Free Speech

The Labour Party’s ‘hidden’ agenda is to boost the number of high profile “gay” lobbyists, like Wellington lawyer Charles Chauvel and former party president and outspoken lesbian, Ms Maryan Street, (placed at number 44 and 36 respectfully on the party list), within its parliamentary ranks. This will help it achieve its social engineering legislative programme that is so dear to the heart of the “gay” and feminist cabal within the party: same-sex marriage, “gay” adoption, anti-discrimination laws to protect trans-sexuals and hate-speech laws to crush all criticisms of promiscuous homosexual lifestyles.

Charles Chauvel: “Gay” Labour Candidate and “attorney-general wannabe”

Labour’s candidate for the Ohariu-Belmont electorate, Charles Chauvel, is a Wellington lawyer who has been described as an active “homosexual lobbyist.” [ref. 1] According to a “gay” website GayNZ.com, he is “hoping for support from gay constituents who wish to help unseat the fundamentalist United Future party from Parliament.”

Chauvel is reported as saying that the removal of Hon. Peter Dunne, the United Future Party’s leader, from the House of Representatives, “would rid Parliament of a party that has proved itself to be extremely homophobic” [ref. 2] (N.B. “homophobic” is a term of abuse used regularly by extremist and intolerant “gay”- ‘rights’ political lobbyists).

At the last election the Labour Party stood another prominent “gay”–‘rights’ lobbyist against Peter Dunne, the Executive Director of the NZ Family Planning Association and outspoken lesbian, Dr Gillian Greer. Dunne easily won the seat, gaining 19,355 votes, a majority of 12,534 votes over his nearest rival (Greer). (The United Future Party gained 6.69% of the party vote nation-wide).

One wonders whether Mr Chauvel has grasped the fact that Peter Dunne, who has held his electorate seat since 1984, after winning it from National MP, Hugh Templeton, voted for the Homosexual Law Reform Bill.

This law that decriminalised acts of sodomy between consenting adults and was passed into law on 11 July 1986 by a narrow margin (49-44), has allowed homosexuals to sodomise one another without fear of being criminalised. Dunne, who is the only sitting MP to have served as a cabinet minister in both a Labour-led and National Government, is certainly not regarded by the vast majority of his constituency as “homophobic” or “a fundamentalist”.

Mr Chauvel does not need to win the electorate he is standing in to get into parliament. He has been placed so high up on the Labour Party List at No 44 (making him one of the highest ranking Labour candidates who is not a current MP), that he could get in if Labour secures sufficient support in the party vote. He stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the Franklin electorate in 1990 against Bill Birch.

There are rumours in legal circles that the Labour Party hierarchy is grooming Mr Chauvel for the position of Attorney General. The National Business Review (ref 5. 25/2/05) in its damaging exposé of Chauvel’s extravagant use of taxpayer funds while Deputy chairman of the Lotteries Commission (2000-2004), describes him as the “attorney-general wannabe”. It adds: “Legal sources say Mr Chauvel has designs on becoming the next attorney-general should Labour succeed in winning a third term. He is close to [former] Attorney-General … Margaret Wilson…”.

Mr Chauvel’s website [ref. 4] claims that he “has taken important [legal] cases without charge. In 2001, before a Full Court of the High Court, he successfully defended a censorship appeal to restrict the availability of anti-gay hate literature.” The GayNZ website (ref. 2. 24/1/05) claims that he did this work in 2001 on “a pro-bono basis”.

However, one wonders what exactly Chauvel means by “without charge” when the firm he has been a partner in for the last five years and receives a salary from, Minter Ellison & Rudd Watts, received a handsome payout from the Legal Aid Services for this case. Mr Chauvel was counsel to the respondent in the case – the Human Rights Action Group (Wellington) - a “gay” ‘rights’ lobby group whose representative, Calum Bennachie, applied and secured the pay out from the Legal Aid Services – money that went to Chauvel’s firm.

What Chauvel’s website omits to note, is that the High Court ruling in the Living Word case that he trumpets as a success, was overturned on appeal in a unanimous decision of the Full (five member) Court of the Court of Appeal (CA 58/00 dated 31/8/200). The classification decision that had ruled the so-called “anti-gay hate literature” (the two Living Word Christian videos highly critical of “gay”- ‘rights’ political activism and “gay” promiscuous lifestyle) to be “objectionable” and that was upheld by the High Court; was quashed on appeal by the Court of Appeal.

The latter ordered the Film and Literature Board of Review to reclassify the films in the light of its decision and this led to the Board classifying them as “unrestricted” publications. The ‘house of cards’ Mr Chauvel and his fellow “gay”- ‘rights’ lobbyists (the so-called Human Rights Action Group) had sought to construct based on trying to define the videos as constituting “hate literature” that (they claimed) needed to be banned, collapsed.

Mr Chauvel who was appointed Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Office in Wellington in 1994, used his legal skills in the Living Word case to try and ensure that two Christian videos, which he and his fellow “gay” activists called “anti-gay hate literature.” remained banned. He succeeded in convincing two High Court judges, but the Court of Appeal overturned the lower court’s flawed decision.

Fortunately Chauvel’s misguided attempt to crush free speech, curtail robust debate and stifle religious freedom, ultimately failed. If he ever does get into parliament, it is clear he will be supporting any Labour-led Government’s push to establish “hate-speech laws” so that all publications that he and the homosexual lobbyists consider “anti-gay literature,” will have to be banned.

It is significant that in the High Court decision that upheld the ban on the Living Word videos, the Hon. Justice Heron stated: "The Court we must say has been troubled by the inroad into freedom of expression of opinions which this decision [to uphold the ban] represents, particularly in the area of uncertain factual assumptions and premises, and a still evolving understanding of the phenomenon of homosexuality" (p. 14). Mr Chauvel was not in the slightest troubled by this inroad into freedom of expression.

Mr Chauvel omits from his website the fact that his work as legal counsel for “gay”-lobbyists in 1994 seeking to ban a book called “Exposing the AIDS Scandal” by Paul Cameron, failed. The Indecent Publications Tribunal did not accept his lengthy and turgid submissions that this book should be banned. The book was classified “unrestricted”.

The GayNZ website states that Mr Chauvel did this work on a pro-bono basis:

“Chauvel has worked for the past 15 years on gay/lesbian legal issues, and is a former board member and chair of the NZ AIDS Foundation. He was extensively involved in lobbying to pass the Human Rights Act in 1993, and also was involved in the campaign to pass the Civil Union Act.

He acted as counsel on a pro-bono basis in 1994 in a case before the Indecent Publications Tribunal seeking to classify fundamentalist Christian anti-gay hate literature, and again before the High Court in 2000 in the infamous Living Word case, which involved videos of a similar nature.”

Earlier this year the Dominion Post reported that Labour's candidate for Ohariu-Belmont, Charles Chauvel, had quit the board of government power generator Meridian Energy, after warnings of a potential conflict of interest from SOEs Minister, Hon. Paul Swain. Chauvel was director from April 2002 until February 2005, when he resigned. His critics have expressed surprise that he had to be advised by the Minister before making his decision to resign, a decision he should have made independently of the Minister’s prompting.

However, Chauvel’s ‘explanation’: his claim that his resignation was not a response to the advice from the Minister, but was simply an independent decision he made late, due to his busy schedule; is hardly credible. As political journalist Vernon Small wrote at the time: “Mr Chauvel's public comment that his resignation was due to pressure of work – did not work in his favour” [ref. 3]. One has to wonder why, as a ministerial appointee (Chauvel) thinks he can just ignore ministerial advice.

Mr Chauvel was appointed Deputy Chair of the Lotteries Commission in October 2000 and remained on until December 2004. The matter of massive taxpayer-funded travel expenses incurred by Mr Chauvel for his 10-day trip to Europe as an employee of the Lotteries Commission led to serious questions being raised by the National Party MPs.

His trip from 25 January to 8 February 2003 covered just five meetings (Hamburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Watford) and his expenses (disclosed via parliamentary questions and answers: 3 September 2003) were the subject of a punishing probe by the New Zealand Business Review. NBR reports that he “invoiced at least $80,00 to the Lotteries Commission for travel between 2000 and 2003 and has earned a reputation as an extravagant spender”.

NBR has made two complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman, one relating to the commission’s conduct over its refusal and one for the refusal itself [to disclose information]. In his time on the Lotteries Commission Board, at taxpayer expense, he visited Florida, New Orleans, Watford, Helsinki, Austria and Finland in five separate trips. He spent $53,000 in one year alone and said that his Commission Board portfolio area was “remote interactive gambling.”

A key Labour Party goal in the 2005 election is to boost not only the number of active homosexual strategists, like Mr Chauvel, within its parliamentary ranks, but to place them into as many influential positions as possible, including statutory bodies. One key to the success of Labour’s social engineering legislative programme (eg. prostitution reform, civil unions etc.) has been the influence of “gay” MPs such as Tim Barnett and Cabinet Minister Chris Carter and the transsexual MP Georgina Beyer who have been able to push the “gay” ‘rights’ cause using the Human Rights Act 1993.

If Charles Chauvel does succeed in getting into parliament, the pro “gay” – ‘rights’ cabal within the Labour Party will be a formidable force. He has a special interest in using the Human Rights Act to push the “gay” ‘rights’ cause, including the banning of publications critical of those who promote and engage in sodomy.

References:

[1] Gay competition for Peter Dunne

24 January 2005

http://www.challengeweekly.co.nz/Iss02-2005.htm

“A homosexual lobbyist is taking on United Future leader Peter Dunne in the Ohariu-Belmont electorate….”

[2] Gay opponent for Dunne at election

18 January 2005

http://www.gaynz.org.nz/news/default.asp?dismode=article&apage=4&artid=2114

[3] Early Poll Unlikely

Vernon Small

29 March 2005

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3230891a6220,00.html

“… However, all is not total sweetness and light. In Wellington, supporters of gay lawyer Charles Chauvel, who has impeccable credentials in the party going back to Auckland's iconic Princes St branch, are miffed their man was ranked so low that his chances of election look marginal.

“… (Media reports of his travel expenditure at the Lotteries Commission found no wrongdoing, but did not help. SOE minister Paul Swain's heavy hint that he should quit the Meridian Energy board because of a potential conflict of interest as a candidate – and then Mr Chauvel's public comment that his resignation was due to pressure of work – did not work in his favour either.) …”

[4] Charles Biography

http://www.charleschauvel.com/bio.shtml

[5] Government favourite quits as travel questions mount.

By Coran Lill

National Business Review February 25, 2005, pages 1, 6-7.

ENDS

Belgians March to Protect Children from Homosexual Adoption

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05090607.html

"A pro-family group has organized a march to protest a Belgian Parliament draft proposal to legalize homosexual adoption. Although Belgium has had legal same-sex “marriage” since 2003, the law currently does not permit adoption by same-sex partners. In addition, a birth within a same-sex “marriage” does not impute affiliation, thus the same-sex spouse of the biological parent has no way to legally claim parental ‘rights’.

“Not only does the new proposed law undermine the traditional family at its core, but this also implies a complete disregard for the child’s right to a mother and a father,” stated march organizers, Comité Actie Gezin/Action Famille. “It further rejects the mounting evidence of the adverse psychological burden imposed to a child raised by same-sex parents. This endeavor is obviously not in the best interest of the child.”- LifeSiteNews.com, Sept. 6, 2005

Canadian Conservatives Vow to Continue Fight Against Same-Sex 'Marriage'

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200506/FOR20050629e.html

While there are no legal weapons left that could overturn the current vote on same-sex marriage in Canada Conservative Party leaders have vowed to bring it up again.. The vote was close and the make up of Parliament will change over the next few years. This is what Conservatives hope will allow them to overturn this vote at some point in the future.

Jerusalem to Ban Annual Gay Pride Parade

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050623/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_gay_pride_1

City Officials in Jerusalem announced they were banning the gay pride parade set for next week in a letter to parade organizers. They cited the following reasons for their ban.

• fear of creating an uproar

• fear of offending a wide sector of the city's residents

• fear of causing public disturbances

Spain's Senate Rejects Same-Sex Marrriage Bill

http://www.speroforum.com/blog/entry.asp?ENTRY_ID=187

In a non-binding vote Spain's Senate vetoed the same-sex marriage bill on Wednesday. Although the vote will reportedly not stop the bill from passing, the Socialist Government of Spain has at least agreed to meet with those opposed to it. The Spanish Forum for the Family has collected over 700,000 names on a petition asking the government to legally define marriage as between a man and a woman and that "experimental adoption forumlas" not be allowed.

Gay sex syllabus sparks inquiry

http://www.news.com.au/story/print/0,10119,15534848,00.html

The New South Wales State Government in Australia recently ordered an inquiry into the process of planning classroom lessons for public schools sex ed classes on "gay and lesbian" discrimination. Education Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, banned the programs after discovering that students as young as 14 were asked to visualize themselves in a world controlled by lesbians and gays and ninth grade students were asked to visualize themselves kissing a person of their same sex.

European Parliament President Says Fighting “Moral Discrimination” Against Homosexuals is an EU “Duty”

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05052004.html

The seemingly dictatorial and totalitarian mindset of EU Parliamentary President, Joseph Borrell Fontelles, was revealed recently when he proclaimed that, "the EU had a duty to continue to struggle against discrimination and violence related to sexual orientation, in all countries, “by all means."

Nebraska Eyes Protections for Sexual Orientation

http://www.family.org/cforum/statenews/a0036493.cfm

May 9, 2005

by Erin Blad, senior constituent communications coordinator

Cornhuskers could find protected status for sexual orientation in unexpected places.

Liberal legislators in Nebraska are considering extending special protections to homosexuals

Homosexual Activist Named to Key Environmental Post by PM; Blocked by House

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/apr/05040807.html

WINNIPEG, April 8, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, after naming the homosexual activist former mayor of Winnipeg to a key environmental post, was later blocked by an upset parliament that voted 143-108 to quash the appointment.

Religious leaders: No 'gay pride' in holy city

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43567

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Rare gathering of Christian, Jewish, Muslim figures blasts homosexual event


Posted: March 31, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Senior Christian, Jewish and Muslims leaders blasted a world homosexual event scheduled to be held in Jerusalem this summer in a rare gathering here yesterday of senior figures from all three major faiths.

Petition Launched to Cancel Homosexual Event in Jerusalem

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200503%5CFOR20050316d.html

By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
March 16, 2005

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - An American Christian leader, with the backing of some Israeli politicians, launched a petition in Jerusalem Wednesday, calling on Israeli officials to cancel the planned WorldPride international homosexual parade and event scheduled to take place in Jerusalem this summer.

Church-based homosexual chastity group expands to Mexico

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/11578.html

Associated Press
March 15, 2005

MEXICO CITY (AP) - A Roman Catholic organization urging chastity and prayer for people with same-sex desires has opened a branch in Mexico, the country's coucil of bishops announced Tuesday.

MEXICO: Anti-Homophobia Campaign Draws Fire from Conservatives, Catholics

http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=27872

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Mar 15 (IPS) - When 17-year-old Mexican Antonio Ruiz was murdered, his killer wrote "I'm a faggot" and "queer" on his body. He was one of an average of 30 homosexuals killed because of their sexual preferences every year in Mexico, which will be launching an official government campaign against homophobia in April.

Evangelical Christians team up with Shas against gay parade

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/552045.html

By Daphna Berman
Tue., March 15, 2005

A group of evangelical Christians has teamed up with members of Shas to launch an international petition aimed at canceling the Gay and Lesbian World Pride Parade scheduled for Jerusalem this summer.

Ad Campaign on Gay Rights Draws Debate

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050303/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_gay_rights

Thu Mar 3, 3:32 AM ET
By OSCAR ARANA, Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY - A government-sponsored radio campaign featuring a mother nervously preparing dinner for her son's boyfriend has conservative groups here opposing what they see as official approval for gay lifestyle.

Same-Sex “Marriage,” “Hate Crimes,” and the New Totalitarianism

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/050228a.html

by Michael D. O’Brien

Lost is our old simplicity of times;
the world abounds with laws
and teems with crimes.


This anonymous aphorism, published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1775, rings even more true of our times. Proliferating crime is endemic to contemporary democracies, it seems, and the Western world is awash in so many laws that one hardly dares guess what will next be made illegal. Strangest of all is that so much of the new legalism is directed not at criminals but at the moral structure of private life.

British Royal Navy Recruits Homosexuals

http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0035633.cfm

February 24, 2005

by Keith Peters, Washington, D.C., correspondent

The military branch is partnering with a pro-gay group to increase homosexual participation.

The British Royal Navy has announced that not only will it accept gays into its ranks, it will actively recruit them.

The Royal Navy is cooperating with a gay activist group to devise better strategies for recruiting homosexuals, in the wake of a European court ruling that found Britain's ban on homosexuals in the military violated human rights laws.

“Man”, “Woman”, “Wife”, “Husband”, “Widow”, “Widower” Banished From all Ontario Law

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022511.htm

Terms, when referring to spouses, are banned from all government programs, services, documents

Toronto, February 25, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With the obscenely rapid, three-day introduction and passage of its same-sex “marriage” Bill 171, the Ontario government has advanced a revolutionary change in the way all laws and government programs and institutions refer to marriage and married persons. Everything referring to spouses must now be gender neutral.

Anti-gay pastor wins appeal

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=960&date=20050211&PHPSESSID=a4c3acefa7f67ef8020e4390aa681412

James Savage
Published: 11th February 2005  13:01 BST+1

The Swedish pastor sentenced to prison for a sermon that was said to spread hatred against gay people has had his conviction quashed on appeal, in a verdict that a Swedish gay rights group has called “disturbing”.

Transsexual lawmaker bids to outlaw discrimination on basis of gender identity

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050209/ap/d884os2g0.html

New Zealand's first transsexual lawmaker introduced legislation Wednesday to outlaw discrimination against transsexuals, transvestites and cross dressers _ prompting one opposition party to label it "gender-bending" law.

The Right to Marry, or Not to Marry, Is the Issue Among Canada's Gays

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/weekinreview/06kraus.html

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: February 6, 2005

TORONTO — To read the newspapers here, it might seem as if gay and lesbian couples are beating down the doors of Toronto's City Hall for marriage licenses. But no: While they talk a lot about marriage, they don't do a lot of marrying.

Over the last two years, a series of Canadian provincial court rulings have made same-sex marriage legal for up to 85 percent of the population, and last week a government bill was introduced to give the right to all Canadians.

Swede's Sermon on Gays: Bigotry or Free Speech?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45538-2005Jan28.html

By Keith B. Richburg  and Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 29, 2005; Page A01

 

    

STOCKHOLM -- One Sunday in the summer of 2003, the Rev. Ake Green, a Pentecostal pastor, stepped into the pulpit of his small church in the southern Swedish village of Borgholm. There, the 63-year-old clergyman delivered a sermon denouncing homosexuality as "a deep cancerous tumor in the entire society" and condemning Sweden's plan to allow gays to form legally recognized partnerships.

    

"Our country is facing a disaster of great proportions," he told the 75 parishioners at the service. "Sexually twisted people will rape animals," Green declared, and homosexuals "open the door to forbidden areas," such as pedophilia.

Church Fights Gay Marriage Bill

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/international/americas/31canada.html

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: January 31, 2005

TORONTO, Jan. 30 - The Roman Catholic Church has opened a major campaign to defeat a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage across the country, which the government says will be introduced in early February when a deeply divided Parliament reconvenes.

The bill is largely symbolic because provincial and territorial courts have already expanded marriage rights in jurisdictions where 85 percent of Canadians live. But it will be the first time an elected body will vote on the issue, and polls show the population to be about evenly split

Changing Their Sex in Iran

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-transgender25jan25.story

By Megan K. Stack, Times Staff Writer

January 25, 2005

TEHRAN — Whispering like conspirators, the two cousins hook their thumbs in their belt loops, skim cocky eyes over the women and swivel, stiff-legged from their hips, like the men they have become. Across the room, and a few steps away on the gender spectrum, a man with shaggy hair wrinkles a pug nose in the mirror and struggles to drape a silky scarf over his head in the style of Islamic womanhood.

Almost everybody here, in this sterilized waiting room at a clinic in the clanging heart of Tehran, is in the midst of changing their sex. Waiting their turn to see the doctor, they strut about in self-conscious gender rehearsal. Someone has brought cookies, sweet with honey.

Honduras Measure to Ban Same-Sex Marriage Mobilizes Rights Groups

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaymarriage19jan19,1,3077099.story

By Reed Johnson, Times Staff Writer
January 19, 2005

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — From his fifth-floor office in the National Congress building, Jose Celin Discua has seen the enemy, and it is us.

The veteran congressman has been watching what he regards as a surging tide of immorality sweeping the United States and other parts of the Western world. He's determined to stop it from reaching Honduras, even if he has to rewrite the law of the land.

"In various countries of the world — Holland, Spain, various states of the United States — there is already [same-sex] marriage," Discua says. "It is already coming, and it is already accepted."

Sweden's Conviction of Pastor for Preaching on Homosexuality Violates International Law

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05011205.html

Wednesday January 12, 2005

WASHINGTON, January 12, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty submitted an amicus (friend of the court) brief yesterday with the Swedish Supreme Court calling for the Court to reverse the conviction of a pastor prosecuted for presenting Christan teaching on homosexuality from the pulpit.

Pastor Ake Green was sentenced to one month in jail for a sermon he preached to his congregation in 2003 on Biblical texts addressing homosexuality. The sermon was later printed in a local newspaper and Green was prosecuted on the basis that his sermon offended Sweden's homosexual community.

Anti-Gay Climate Breeding Violence in Jamaica

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-homophobia9jan09,1,6103278.story

January 9, 2005
By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer

KINGSTON, Jamaica — When gay rights activist Brian Williamson was stabbed to death in June and jubilant crowds danced around his mutilated body, police said he was a robbery victim.

When Jamaican reggae dancehall musicians were bumped from U.S. and British concert appearances last year over lyrics encouraging the killing of gays, people here called the censure a failure to respect free speech.

When Human Rights Watch issued a withering condemnation of homophobia in Jamaica in November and accused police and politicians of condoning anti-gay violence and harassment, government spokesmen rejected the report as "lies" and "nonsense," and a senior police official called for sedition charges to be brought against its authors.

Luring gay tourists to 'United Queensland'

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_1189107,00430004.htm

Vijay Dutt
London, January 8

Tourism is usually promoted through advertisements of beach resorts, traditional and historical attractions, music, arts and culture, but British tourist chiefs are now trying a rather radical innovation, promoting Britain as the ultimate gay destination.

An agency funded by the Government, VisitBritain, has started an intensive marketing campaign to attract homosexual visitors chasing the pink pound of gay singles and couples, reveals a Times report. Its website has a Gay Britain section that "boasts" about its "proud gay history, cutting edge culture and fashion, flamboyant cities and pulsating nightlife".

Best for picking up queens

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005011214,00.html

By NIC CECIL
Political Correspondent

TOURISM bosses were slammed last night for promoting Britain as a gay “pick-up joint”.

A taxpayer-funded website aimed at attracting homosexual visitors to the UK trumpets the country as the “United Queendom”.

It highlights London, Brighton and Manchester as gay paradises and says that it is easy to proposition a man in the capital’s homosexual haunts.

Pro-Family Organizations Organize Grassroots Lobbying to Defeat Same-Sex Marriage Bill

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05010603.html

TORONTO, January 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In it's January 2005 Newsletter, Canada's national pro-life political organization, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), has launched a lobbying and post-card campaign against the upcoming federal same-sex marriage bill.

In the newsletter CLC tells its thousands of supporters, "The most important task you can perform is to contact your MP in the constituency office and urge them to vote against same sex 'marriage' or same sex civil unions. Visit them, call them, write to them or fax them now. Please tell your family, friends, neighbours, and co-workers to contact their MPs too". Most MPs are now in their local riding offices and will be accessible there until the House resumes sitting in Ottawa on January 31st.

Celebrated Ontario Homosexual "Marriage" Activist Judge Now says Leave Decision to Elected MPs

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05010604.html

TORONTO, January 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Chief Justice of the Ontario Appeals Court, Roy McMurtry, now says it would "be preferable" to resolve the same-sex "marriage" issue for Canada "politically," according to a Canadian Press account.

It appears as though McMurtry is experiencing political fallout in Ontario for being the first activist Canadian judge to dictate that homosexuals must be granted the "right" to marry. McMurtry's almost mocking about-face appears have been engineered to improve his popularity with what the activist judge must believe is a very naive Canadian populace.

Small changes in lives of gay-marriage pioneers

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1104184191728_44/?hub=Canada

Canadian Press
                  Mon. Dec. 27 2004 11:28 PM ET

MONTREAL — An elderly couple shuffles down the street in Montreal's Chinatown where they run into Michael Hendricks and Rene LeBoeuf, the gay men who helped lead the fight for equal marriage rights in Canada.

The old man recognizes the recently married men and starts shouting. Getting hitched is a terrible mistake, he proclaims. The two men will regret it forever.

His wife shuts him up