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Passage of C-38 Spurs Gay Activists Efforts to Criminalize Opposition

EDMONTON, June 30, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The first indication that principled opposition to the homosexual political agenda will be fodder for the hate crime laws is already manifesting in Alberta two days after the passage of Bill C-38 changed the federal definition of marriage to include same-sex partners.

Alberta legislators are attempting to find legal means of stopping the legalization of homosexual ‘marriage’ in the province. Homosexual activists have seized the opportunity to move the agenda along to the next phase by claiming that public opposition by politicians is the direct cause of criminal assaults against homosexuals.

Alberta's Conservative caucus met in Edmonton Wednesday to determine if anything could be done to block same sex marriages from becoming law. Alberta Justice Minister, Ron Stevens, said that the province is considering going to court to challenge Bill C-38, though he admitted that the effort has little chance of succeeding.

At the same time, Edmonton police are investigating possible charges of hate crimes in two separate cases of assault on gay men. Robert Smith told the CBC that he and his partner, Guy Cohoon, were assaulted by eight youths. "We were holding hands, they reacted to us holding hands by calling us fags, and it escalated from there," Smith said.

Family advocates have long warned that the gay ‘marriage’ debate has been a means to create a legal framework to force acceptance of homosexual behavior and to criminalize any public expressions of opposition that behavior. Few mainstream Canadian religious groups still seriously oppose homosexual activity as a matter of doctrine, but the few who still do, the Catholic Church, some Protestant Evangelicals, Orthodox Jews, Sikhs and Muslims, have repeatedly expressed their doubt that the new federal legislation will do anything to protect them. These groups fear being targeted by homosexual activists not only in civil suits but under the new hate crime statute.

In Edmonton, Murray Billet, a leader in homosexual advocacy, said that the opposition by MP’s has ‘filtered down’ to the public and is directly responsible for the assaults. “When we have a provincial government that behaves the way it does, in such a homophobic manner, the verbal kind of gay-bashing, it almost endorses and validates some of the narrow-minded activity of some of the young people in our community,” he said.

The push for criminal charges against principled Canadians opposed to the homosexual movement has, in fact, already begun. Bill Whatcott of Regina distributed 2000 leaflets describing the dangers of homosexual activity and is being investigated for hate crimes. The CBC reported that Constable Steve Camp of the Edmonton police hate crimes unit said, “The material is offensive and it’s an affront on the basic tenets of our society, which is about multiculturalism, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.”

Billet told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “When we have a provincial government that behaves the way it does, in such a homophobic manner, the verbal kind of gay bashing, it almost endorses and validates some of the narrow-minded activity of some of the young people in our community.”

Read the homosexual press coverage explicitly calling for opposition to be criminalized (page is free of explicit material):
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/06/063005alberta.htm

HW

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