BANCROFT, Ontario, September 3, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A restaurant owner in the Eastern Ontario town of Bancroft has been forced to remove a newspaper clipping that had been on a bulletin board for over ten years because of one complaint that resulted in a Facebook campaign to organize a protest at the privately owned business.
The old Toronto Star clipping featuring the words “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” has been pinned to the bulletin board of the Eagle’s Nest Restaurant and Bakery for a decade, according to owners Sadie and Doug Creighton. The clipping stirred no controversy until a lesbian couple new to the community complained that they were offended by it.
“The sign caught my eye almost as soon as we sat down,” said Nat Brouse, who had gone to the restaurant for breakfast with her “wife” Steph Murphy.
“At first we were shocked that such an overt sign of hatred was just hanging out in the open to intimidate the queer community,” said Brouse, according to a Bancroft This Week report.
The clipping is from an article titled “Thousands rally on Parliament Hill against same-sex law proposal” by Dirk Meissner of the Canadian Press, published on August 22, 2003. Meissner reported that 6000 people had gathered “to attended a National Marriage Day rally to protest the government's plan to change legislation to allow homosexual marriages.”
The report included a description of a placard with the message “In the beginning God created male and female, Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
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The historical document pinned to the wall of the Eagle’s Nest restaurant was published at the time by media throughout Canada, including the CBC and newspapers across the country.
In an editorial in the Bancroft This Week newspaper, reporter Nate Smelle called the situation “a blatant case of human rights abuse within this community,” and “a tale of social injustice and discrimination.”
However, Sadie Creighton said the clipping was not intended to offend anyone.
“It has nothing to do with me just because I put it up on the board. It has been up there for at least 10 years and then all of a sudden one person comes in here and oh my God it’s a sin. Nobody else has ever said anything about it. It was in the paper. Do you know how many people see the Toronto Star?” Sadie said.
She pointed out that she has no ill-will toward homosexuals but she believes she has the right to freely express her beliefs in her own business.
“It’s in the Bible,” she said. “Our ancestors would be rolling over in their graves if they knew half of what was going on.”
According to the local media, failed NDP candidate for Prince Edward-Hastings County Sherry Hayes took up the cause and started a Facebook conversation about the situation that resulted in plans to hold a protest at the Eagle’s Nest Restaurant to force the owners to remove the clipping.
When the Creighton's became aware of the planned protest they took the clipping down, but said a sit-in at their business was not the way the offended couple should deal with their hurt feelings.
“If you are offended about something you go home and you deal with it. You don’t make a big to-do out of something,” said Sadie.
When LifeSiteNews called the Creighton's for a comment on the situation, they refused to be interviewed, saying in an exasperated tone only, “OK, listen, end of subject.”
Contact info:
Town of Bancroft
Bernice Jenkins, Mayor
24 Flint Ave., P.O. Box 790
Bancroft, ON K0L 1C0
Phone: 613-332-3331
Fax: 613-332-0384
Email: [email protected]
Prince Edward-Hastings MPP Todd Smith
81 Millennium Parkway, Unit 3, PO Box 575
Belleville, ON K8N 5B2
Phone: 613-962-1144
Fax: 613-969-6381
Toll Free: 1-877-536-6248
Email: [email protected]