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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, January 30, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A number of Vancouver taxpayers are furious that they are being forced to foot the bill for a homosexual activist who is a city councillor to travel to Sochi not for the Olympics, but to lobby the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include sexual orientation in its charter.

“We’re not there for the Olympics,” Councillor and Deputy Mayor Tim Stevenson told the Globe and Mail on Tuesday, a day after his departure. “In fact, the Olympic Games open on the 7th and we come back on the 9th. I want the IOC to have a constitutional change in their charter so that sexual orientation is included in their charter.”

Stevenson, an ordained minister in the pro-homosexual United Church of Canada (UCC) who is married to UCC gay minister Gary Paterson, will meet with representatives of the IOC, the Russian Orthodox Church, and international media to criticize Russia’s recent laws protecting children from homosexual propaganda, laws construed by many Westerners as “anti-gay”.

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Stevenson will also petition the IOC that future bids to host Olympic games only be granted to cities that promise special “Pride Houses” for gay and lesbian athletes.

The ideologically motivated trip is expected to cost taxpayers over $100,000 with some of the expense covered by private donations.

“You have to get package deals starting at a minimum of $15,000 per week per person, you can’t get it separately,” said Stevenson in December. “Plus airfares and meals — it may drop significantly down if we can find some savings, but we can’t count on that — Russia is out to make a lot of money on this.”

Stevenson is traveling with lesbian Maureen Douglas, a former Vancouver Winter Games official.

Vancouver city council voted unanimously in December to fund the Stevenson and Douglas trip to Sochi. The motion was brought forward by Mayor Gregor Robertson.

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The move has some Vancouver taxpayers fuming.

“This is totally wrong. The Vancouver tax payer is now coughing up the money for political interest during a sporting event? Another brutal move by a brutal mayor,” wrote one commentator beneath a story on the event at Straight.com.

“Why does the City Coucil (sic) feel it is the responsibility of the city tax payers to fund this trip to support an issue which does not reflect their mandate? LGBT rights and issues in a foreign country are not the mandate of the City of Vancouver and the tax payers should not have to foot the bill for this,” commented Sheena Graham beneath an online story at Global News.

“What an embarrassment, for Vancouver,” another commented. “The pink fascists now want to take over the Olympics too?”

Stevenson said that no matter the outcome of his lobbying efforts, his mission has already been successful.

“The amount of press that it has generated, and the number of people who have come to me and said, ‘Wow, this is really wonderful.’ I think it’s already been a success. And everything else is kind of gravy,” he told the Globe and Mail.

Contact info:

Gregor Robertson, Mayor
3rd Floor, City Hall
453 West 12th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V4
Phone: 604-873-7621
Email: [email protected]

Mayor and Council as a group
Email: [email protected]