SILENCE IS A HATE CRIME?

Mayor Forced to Proclaim Gay Pride Again   FREDERICTON, Oct 22 (LSN) – Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside was forced to proclaim Gay Pride, despite his religious objections, for the second time Monday. Last Tuesday Woodside complied begrudgingly with an order by the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission to proclaim Gay Pride but did so quietly after turning his microphone off, an action which infuriated homosexual activists. This week, after bearing the severe condemnation of the national media, his colleagues and gay activists, Woodside made the proclamation again.  The pro-homosexual media, reveling in Woodside’s defeat at the hands of the human rights commission,  quoted Kim Hill and Allison Brewer the two homosexual activists who initiated the complaints against the mayor. Yesterday, the Toronto Star reported Hill as saying “We proved a lot here tonight We moved a mountain of bigotry and hatred.” Hill’s comments, since they reflected the ruling of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), were even more alarming. Hill called Woodside’s refusal to proclaim Gay Pride “blatant” discrimination. “If you have a mayor who blatantly discriminates against us, that plants seeds in people’s minds and tells people they can do it too, that it doesn’t matter because we’re just gay,”  said Hill.  In a chilling quote made after the proclamation, Hill said, “The bottom line is that we now know the human rights legislation in New Brunswick has teeth, it can make you do what you don’t want to do.” While some may think that saying nothing about moral depravity would be enough of a compromise, the ruling of the HRC, as Hill attests to, demonstrates that silence is considered hate. “Crimes of hate … are born in silence, says Hill in a quote highlighted in the Star.