TORONTO, May 27, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Globe and Mail, one of the largest national newspapers in Canada, and a constant supporter of gay activism, in a news piece today falsely implied a link between a LifeSiteNews.com story and a recent act of vandalism.
Globe reporter Gayle MacDonald’s article, “Prom Queen offices trashed”, recounts the recent vandalism at the offices of Toronto-based Tapestry Pictures. The Globe story indicates that it is not known who committed the office vandalism or what the motivation was for the act. Tapestry is the producer of the controversial made for TV movie, Prom Queen. A May 5 LifeSiteNews.com story revealed that the movie would positively portray the actions of the gay Oshawa high school student who, by court order, forced his Catholic high school to violate its religious principles and allow him to bring his homosexual boyfriend to the school prom. The film is to air June 1 on CTV.
Mary Young Leckie, Prom Queen’s executive producer and co-owner of Tapestry, is quoted in the article as attributing the vandalism to anti-homosexual “hatred” which she says “is being dispersed on the Internet”. Globe reporter MacDonald quotes Young Leckie as saying, “You hear all the time about people being exposed on the Internet but when it happens to you it’s terrifying,” and segues to a LifeSiteNews.com article about the controversial film. In her article, Globe writer MacDonald refers to the Catholic school principal who opposed Hall’s demands, as any faithful Catholic school principal would be obliged to do, as “the homophobic school principal”. LifeSiteNews.com has retained a lawyer to send a demand for a published clarification by the Globe and Mail. In the letter LifeSiteNews.com points out that the implication, which can easily follow from a casual reading of the article, is that LifeSiteNews.com, by simply publishing a story on what would certainly be a seen as a very controversial movie to many Canadians, encouraged the office vandalism, which would be totally untrue and defamatory. LifeSiteNews.com has never indicated any support whatever for violence, vandalism or animosity towards individuals in any of its news stories or other articles. The careless accusation of “hate” is a serious matter in Canada where new hate crime laws have been enacted. Currently in Canada, in order to be found guilty of an indictable criminal offence under the code, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison, a person must communicate statements, in a public place, which incite hatred against an identifiable group in such a way that there will likely be a breach of the peace.
See the Globe and Mail article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040527/PROM27/TPEducation/ See the LifeSiteNews.com article in question: CTV to Celebrate Anti-Catholic Gay-Activist Episode in Toronto with Mini-Series https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04050507.html See also, Canadian Homosexual Activists on EGALE List-Serve Discuss How to Shut Down LifeSite Focus on Family rep says “gay activists want to wipe out any dissenting opinion” https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04051102.html LifeSiteNews.com and Pro-family Groups Subject to Intimidation From Gay Rights Leaders Psychological warfare ‘jamming’ technique seeks to instill doubt in minds of pro-family persons https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/040503a.html