The French philosopher Voltaire once wrote, “I disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” And death for criticizing the State, or the society of the day was a real possibility in the heady (or, rather, headless) days of the French Revolution.

In a democracy, certain freedoms are non-negotiable; a free press, freedom of association, freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and belief, and the freedom to express all of those; in other words, freedom of speech. It’s easy to support the freedom of speech of those we agree with, or on issues that don’t directly affect us. But the true test of freedom of speech is to support the expression of ideas and ideologies we find personally disgusting, upsetting, and odious.

A perfect example is self-avowed “pastor”, Stephen Boissoin, formerly of Red Deer, Alberta, former Executive Director of the Concerned Christians Coalition (now Concerned Christians Canada Inc.), who is currently a youth worker with street-involved and at risk youth in Calgary.

In 2002, Boissoin wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate newspaper, not only criticizing but condemning a project by the PFLAG Faith Society of Edmonton to create safe environments in the schools for GLBTQ students and to institute anti-homophobia initiatives in school curricula. The letter reads as a vicious and savage diatribe against homosexual activists, homosexuality in general, and those who support them.

Like many self-avowed Right Wing Christians, Boissoin claims to not “hate homosexuals.” Oh no, he loves us; it’s our ‘disease’ and ‘perversions’ he hates. He prefaces his letter with this declaration of love, stating his words are not intended for those “suffering from an unwanted sexual identity crisis.” For those, the unfortunates so conflicted about their sexuality they believe the powers of faith and prayer will make them heterosexual, he has “understanding, care, compassion and tolerance.”

He reserves his acid-laced vitriol for the activists, and our supporters, who “are not morally upright citizens, concerned about the best interests of our society. [Such people] are perverse, self-centred and morally deprived individuals…spreading their psychological disease into every area of our (i.e. heterosexuals’) lives….Homosexual activists, and those that defend them, are just as immoral as the pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps that plague our communities.”

He goes on to claim, “…it is only a matter of time before some of these morally bankrupt individuals such as those involved with NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association, will achieve their goal to have sexual relations with children and assert it is a matter of free choice and claim [those who oppose them] are intolerant bigots not to accept it.”

Nice stuff, huh?

The words are upsetting, hurtful, perhaps even harmful. How can anyone be allowed to publicly air such putrid ideas? There oughta be a law….

Well, freedom of speech is not absolute in Canada. The Alberta Human Rights Commission draws the line at actions and words/imagery that denigrate certain identifiable groups if those actions and words/imagery place members of the group at risk for harm or public contempt.

The Criminal Code, on the other hand, draws the line at “hate.” It is a criminal offence to advocate or promote genocide, or the willful public incitement of hatred. Following the amendments outlined in C-250, ‘sexual orientation’ is now included as one of the characteristics, along with colour, race, religion, and ethnic origin, protected under the hate propaganda provisions of the Criminal Code.

Darren Lund, then a teacher at a Red Deer secondary school and now an education professor at the University of Calgary, believed that if Boissoin’s comments did not constitute hate according to Criminal Code definitions, then certainly contravened the Alberta Human Rights Act, and so filed a complaint. The Commission originally dismissed Lund’s complaint. He successfully appealed that decision, and the case against Boissoin and Concerned Christians Canada Inc. is to be heard sometime in the new year by the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

Predictably, Boissoin and, now Craig Chandler, the CEO of Concerned Christians Canada Inc., are garnering considerable media attention by playing the victim, playing the “free speech” card, and complaining about a homosexual conspiracy to silence them. Boissoin even launched a law suit against professor Lund, citing defamation of character because Lund dared to file the complaint against him. Who is silencing whom?

In a recent Calgary Herald editorial, right wing commentator Nigel Hannaford stated, “[i]t is ironic that homosexual activists have made good use of their right to free speech in pursuit of their aims but, having largely achieved them, now wish to shut down further discussion.” He goes on to claim, “[r]adical homosexual activists claim to be in favour of free speech, but feel their Charter right to equality is violated by what they deem to be offensive comments.”

The real irony is that Egale Canada, the national GLBTQ equality-seeking and lobbying group, has publicly stated as it did in the case of Roman Catholic Bishop Fred Henry’s January 2005 Pastoral Letter, that it supports Boissoin’s right to free speech, while clearly and unequivocally calling what he wrote “misguided” , “intolerant”, “hurtful”, and “inflammatory.” Egale wants to see such crap out in the public marketplace of ideas, where Canadians can scrutinize and argue against the odious views the letter expresses. Egale believes that “sunshine is the best disinfectant.”
On the one hand we have conservative and right wing commentators like Hannaford inaccurately claiming that homosexual activists are attempting to silence opposition through the courts and various human rights tribunals. On the other hand, Egale is facing criticism for appearing to support Stephen Boissoin and not be supporting the complainant, Darren Lund. Egale absolutely supports professor Lund and the body of work he has accomplished on behalf of GLBTQ youth and others. Professor Lund’s commitment to equality and human rights is not in question, at least not at Egale.

Where Egale and professor Lund differ is how to address poison like that written by Stephen Boissoin. We disagree, as we did in the Bishop Henry situation, with having such writing and opinion silenced in any way. We want it out in the open, exposed to public view. We want it to be debated, dissected, analyzed, and the ideas demolished by sound argument.

Let me be clear – I find the beliefs, attitudes, and words of Boissoin to be disgusting, evil, harmful, and a pile of unmitigated stinking garbage, as does Egale, except the organization frames it more diplomatically.

Is what he wrote “hate”? Likely not. It would appear Boissoin carefully crafted his words to come up to the line, but not cross it. What he wrote does not appear to meet the Criminal Code definition of “hate” or “incitement to hatred.”

This is not a Criminal Code case; it is a human rights complaint. C-250, and sections 318 and 319 which the Bill amended to include ‘sexual orientation,’ are not at issue here…although Craig Chandler of Concerned Christians Canada Inc. keeps claiming this is a “C-250 case.” It is not.

When I dared point that fact out to him at a reception, following a recent screening of a documentary in which he is featured, he lost his composure and screamed that I was a “fucking bigot.” He also wasn’t too pleased with my assertion that neither he, nor other Right Wingers appeared to have any issue with Sections 318 and 319, since all they covered were racial, ethnic and religious minorities. But once ‘sexual orientation’ was added, suddenly the sections are “dangerous” and an affront to freedom of speech and religious rights.

He did later apologize when I calmly stated I had been respectful in pointing out to him what I saw as errors in his reasoning, and that I expected no less in return. Especially from someone who repeatedly claims that “radical homosexual activists” employ name-calling and shout him down to win their points.

Despite the criticisms from some quarters, I believe Egale is correct in standing up in defense of free speech. Egale, as a Charter-supporting equality-seeking organization, must stand up in defense of such freedoms. To do otherwise invites our freedom of speech, and other freedoms, to be again compromised should the social and political climate of this nation change.

As Nigel Hannaford wrote in his otherwise erroneous column, “It is therefore entirely possible to be in the saddle today and under the horse’s heels tomorrow.” Indeed. Our community knows about being under the heel, and it can be argued that we have only recently managed to start climbing up into the saddle.

We need to be forever aware of how the lack of freedoms have so long affected our community, and ensure we never employ the same tactics on those with whom we may vehemently disagree. Rather than silence our opponents, we need to drag them into the public eye, expose their odious beliefs, and scrub public discourse clean with reasoned argument. Silencing them only sends the perpetuators of lies and half-truths scurrying out of sight and out of reach.)

Stephen Lock is a long-time glbtq activist, Vice-President and Regional Co-Director for Egale Canada and also the producer and host of a semi-monthly glbtq radio show, Speak Sebastian, airing at 9pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month on CJSW FM 90.9 (www.cjsw.com).