By Terry Vanderheyden
VANCOUVER, April 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Supreme Court of Canada has reserved judgement in a case launched by a homosexual bookstore in Vancouver that is seeking funding to pursue a charge against Canada Customs officials.
The Little Sisters bookstore argues that customs officers are still unfairly denying their importation of homosexual pornography and sado-masochistic materials. The homosexual porn store sued for the same reason successfully in 2000, but, if granted funding, would seek in this new lawsuit to pursue the claim that Customs is still unfairly targeting their imports. They want taxpayers to pick up the tab for the case, arguing that the issue is one important to all Canadians.
In July, 2004, a B.C. judge ordered the federal government to pay the bookstore’s court costs, but in February last year, the B.C. Court of Appeal reversed the lower-court ruling. In November, the Supreme Court granted Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium permission to appeal to pursue government funding, up to $1-million, to fund its legal costs to bring the porn into the country.
In their 2000 win at the Supreme Court, the appellants, supported by the interveners Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and Equality for Gays and Lesbian Everywhere (EGALE), contended that homosexual erotica plays an important role in providing a positive self-image to gays and lesbians.
The intervener LEAF, which bills itself as a promoter of equality for women, took the position that sado- masochism performs an emancipatory role in gay and lesbian culture and should therefore be judged by a different standard from that applicable to heterosexual culture.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Supreme Court Undermines Canadian Obscenity Law
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/dec/00121501.html
Gay Porn Bookstore to Petition Canada’s Supreme Court to Restore Taxpayer Funding For Its Legal Challenges
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111811.html