City knew gay pride vote would result in a problem lowna mayor to sit through what was called “a re-education” session. Eventual victory, according to the city’s legal advice, would likely depend on getting a judge to overturn a-tribunal decision on the basis it infringes individual council members’ freedom of expression and religion as guaran- teed by the” Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, > °° * “In our opinion, a law which makes it un-. lawful to refuse to publicly express support (by proclamation or otherwise): for a cause, view -or event is a rather obvious violation of those fundamental: freedoms,” the legal upinion con- tinued. The chances of such a defence working would be “quite high,” the lawyer said. “The human rights tribunals that have deci- ded the proclamation cases: have not fell the infringement of freedom. of expression or free- dom of religion to. be partictlarly serious, but chances of successfully defending before a human tights council tribunal is “slim.” “Four human rights tribunals have already found similar refusals to be violations of human rights legislation, and we expect thal subsequent tribunals will continue to do sv,” the letter said. “If council refuses to issue the requested proclamation and a human rights complaint is brought against it, we think a human rights tri- bunal will likely find that the city violated [the Cade].” Council likely wouldn't avoid a complaint by passing a policy to end proclamations alto- gether, the opinion said, because the tribunal would view that as just a tactic to avoid the gay pride proclamation at hand. Any tribunal ruling would at the minimum force the city to issue the proclamation and | to campensale complainants, the lawyers said. The tribunal’s decision in a similar case LAWYERS for the city warned council before it rejected a gay pride proclamation that it would likely lose if the matter ended up before a human rights tribunal. But the June 26 letter — from lawyer Greg Cockrill of the Victoria law firm Lidstone, Young, Anderson - advised that the city would have a high chance of winning if it’s able to challenge such a tuling in the courts. The legal opinion cites four previous deci- sions by human rights tribunals in Ontario, New Brunswick and B.C. that ruled denying the proclamation constituted unlawful discri- mination under human rights legislation. The opinion was’ sent to council the same day it made its decision to refuse a request by a group called Rainbow B.C. to declare Aug. 5 as gay. pride day. Section 8 of the B.C. Human Rights Code says that denying a service customarily avail- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 19, 2000 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD able to the public — such as a proclamation — based on sexual orientation is prohibited. Cockrill said the faces rights tribunal Given that section, Council By SARAH GLEN CITY COUNCIL may face the consequences of how it handled a second request to declare Aug. 5 as pay pride day. The Terrace Tolerance Committee, the local group that put forward the proclamation request to council July 10, is fooking into. filing a complaint with the B.C Human Rights Commission. Council didn’t outright reject -the request, but voted to receive and file it instead. “You should feel threa- ‘tened if you knowingly break the law that has been enacted to ensure povernments, employers and landlords treat all people equally,” commit- tee member Maureen Bostock, told council July 10. Council’s ruling comes just two weeks after it re- fused to pass a gay pride, day proclamation request from Wancouver-based Rainbow B.C., noting the request needed to come from a local organization. But when the Terrace Tolerance Committee ap- peared July 10 the procla- mation, councillor Val George moved to receive and file the committee’s letter — a motion that es- sentially rejects the com- mittce’s request. George’s motion was against Kelowna ordered the cily to pay the offended group $10,000 and required the Ke- ian we think a court is likely to disagree,” Cock- rill said. : MAUREEN BOSTOCK and Elizabeth Snyder are two members of the recently formed Terrace Tolerance Committee. The committee may file a human rights complaint against city council, which rejected a re- quest to proclaim August 5 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered pride day. ed passed. “We are morally out- raged at the decision,” said Bostock. Terrace mayor Jack Talstra said there was no need to proclaim Aug, 5 as gay pride day since the province had claimed a week at the end of June as a province-wide pride week. “L don’t have to put my rind to this [request] any- more since the premier has already declared a week “nights tribunal ruling of a cludes Terrace,” said Tal- stra. Bostock called the council’s reasoning to re- ject the request “cowardice”. The motion to reject the request was opposed by councillors David Hull and Rich McDaniel. “| thought there should be more discussion for such 4n ‘emotional issue,” said McDaniel. Facing a potential human rights complaint and saying that he has also been threatened with a lawsuit, Terrace mayor Jack Talstra has now de- clined all comment until “the situation is all cleared up.” Rainbow B.C. official Craig Maynard said it sent out letlers asking for the Aug. 5 proclamation to all municipalities and regio- nal districts in B.C. this year. It did so this year under the strength of a human complaint filed againsl Kelowna city council re- leased earlier this year. The tribunal ruled that Kelowna mayor Walter Gray, in striking out the word ‘pride’ from a procla- mation request, acted in a discriminatory. fashion. And Rainbow B.C. made reference to the de- cision in ‘the prociamatior request letters it sent out. and that obviously in- How it works down in Kitimat KITIMAT COUNCIL can't get into the same type of situation as its Terrace counterpart when it comes to controversial proclamation requests such as the one asking for a gay pride day. Instead of considering each proclamation re- quest individually, Kitimat council in 1996 adop- ted a policy to create what's called a registry of observances, This registry simply lists all the re- quests that come to Kitimat council and is handled by city workers and not by council. “The administration will send a letter to each sponsor on reccipt of their proclamation advising that as per policy, their observance has been en- tered on the Registry of Observances and wishing them well with their activities,” the policy states. Kitimat council neither endorses nor comments on the various proclamation requests it receives. As for the request from Rainbow B.C.,, the group denied a proclamation by Terrace council, if has already been entered on the Kitimat registry. Why Aug. 5? WHAT’S SO special about a provinee-wide re- quest to proclaim Aug, 5 as a pay pride day? It's meant to coincide with celebrations that tra- ditionally take place at that time of year on the lower mainland, says Craig Maynard of Rainbow BC. But the provincial government chose another time of year to issue its own proclamation, saying that is also a traditional period for celebrations on the lower mainland. That proclamation was good for an entire weck, running from June 26 to July 2. “Vancouver has one of the longest running pride celebrations,” said Kale Thompson, an official for the altorney-general’s ministry of the provincial proclamation period. “We wanted the week to work with the traditional celebrations.” Both Maynard and Thompson are quick to point out that their tespective dates are only suggestions and communities can pick their own celebration dates based on local preference. There’il be gay pride in Terrace on Aug. 5 By SARAH GLEN CITY COUNCIL’S decision July 10 to re- ject a local proclamation for a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride day Aug. 5 will not stifle local pride celebra- tions. The Terrace Tolerance Committee, which works for the equality of lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered people in Terrace will still hold local pride celebrations, Aug. 5. It is alsa looking into filing a com- plaint wilh the B.C. Human Rights Com- mission, “Our Aug. 5 pride day will go forward regardless of what town council says,” said Maureen Bostock, a member of the committee. “And we are also definitely considering filing a complaint.” She explains that couneil’s decision seemed to be fuelled by councillors’ per- sonal prejudices not by their political ab- ligations to the community. *They [council] are operating on poli- tical practices from 30 years ago and when you slart going down that road it can be very dangerous,” said Bostock, The committee met last night to dis- cuss what form their celebrations wili take and whether it should file a human rights complaint, But whatever it decides, Rainbow B.C., the Vancouver-based organization thal first approached council to proclaim @ pay pride day will support the local commiltlee. “I’m not sure if it [tolerance commit- tee] has an appetite to file a complaint,” said Craig Maynard, of Rainbow B,C. “But we'll work with the tolerance com- mittee on all this stuff.” Maynard calls council's handling: of first Rainbow B.C’s request and later the tolerance committee’s.request a ruse. “What we're starting to see here is the councillors’ true colours. They wanted local participation but when they got that they still turned it down — it’s a joke,” he said, When Rainbow B.C. first approached council on June 26 to proclaim Aug. 5 as pay pride day, rejected it on the basis that it didn’t come from a local organiza- tion, But when Terrace’s Tolerance Com- mittee made a similar request two weeks later, council yoled to receive and file il, effectively reinforcing its original rejec- tion. Bostock echoes Maynard’s opinion on the handling of both requests. “They [council] snuck around the issue,” said Bostock. “It’s cowardice.” The rejection of the request mirrors a similar situation in Kelowna, where a local organization made a proclamation request for a gay pride day and were turned down, The organization filed a complaint and the B.C, Human Rights Tribunal — later found Kelawna mayor Walter Gray in clear violation of the human rights code. “..Mayor Gray’s reason for refusing to issue the proclamation in a manner re- quested by the Complainant was...solely because of the sexual orientation of the members of the group...the difference in trealment is a breach of the Code,” reads the Tribunal’s conclusion, While the B.C. Human Rights Com- mission deals with each case separately, Theresa Boulard, the acting manager of education and communication with the commission, said the tribunal would “rely on the decision reached in the Kelowna case to help interpret the code in the Ter- race case” if the tolerance committee de- cided to file a A complaint and if i it was - heard. - The Mail Bag They are us Dear Sir: In response to the July 12 letters to the editor regarding gay pride day. Here's to being a hypo- crite. If you consider a gay and lesbian pride day 4s “smut” or you have a-gay friend. whom you will hug, bul won't consider: supporting them in cele- brating his/her way of life, then you are a Bay basher in my books. Have you forgotten that just because you haven't raised a hand does not mean that you haven't hurt someone. Then again. maybe I see your point. | often see homosexual people leaving a morbid trail of death, doom and ‘desituction” as” they run rampant through town, I don’t know what is.worse, the fact that you put homosexual people in the same category as rap- ists, murderers and pedophiles, or the fact thal this is what you believe, - But now I have a question, Did you choose to be heterosexual? [ must have missed that -day in “ju- nior high school when they handed out the homo- sexual versus heterosexual handbook. ] knew that I was heterasexual because I was not sexually attracted to people who are the same sex as | am. It wasn’t a choice; that is just how | felt. I've never asked, but I’m pretty sure that it goes the same for homosexual people. What aboul the homosexual teenager wha may be (trying to get the courage to come out to their parents? Do you think that these horrific articles on the so-called “sin” of being gay makes it any eas- ier on him/her? Oh, but 1 think I get it. Deny who you are, be just like me and [Il accept you. Thangh I do not go to church I do believe in God. i do believe in Heaven and that if you are a good person in your life then you will go to that place when you die. I certainly do not believe that God is shallow enough to deny entry into Heaven simply because of someone’s sexual preference. _ Remember that God pul us all here for a reason. and that means homosexual people are here for a reason, too. They are not here ta be physical and— emotional punching bags. They are here just like everyone else. To have hopes, dreams, and aspira- ° tions the same as you or I. It is a close-minded attitude tat makes it hard for some gay and lesbian people to express who they are. They are people. They are our dentists, doctors, clerks, nurses and store owners. They are our mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. They are our neighbours, family, friends and members of our community who deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. Krista Gudmundson, Terrace, B. Cc. No justification Dear Sir: : The front page article in the July 12 paper about the demand by homosexuals to stage a gay pride parade has stirred up some anger about how this _ issue is being handled by the Terrace city council, | The issue should have been put to the public to _ see if We want to have this. It is with consternatioa | ° ’ that 1 see this cancer creeping into our schools and. . into the public focus. The issue here is sexual preference, not separ- ate group rights or ethnic rights. To brand anyone “homophobic” because one does not agree with the choices that some members of our society make is ridiculous. The term homophobic means the fear of homosexual people, and 1 certainly don't fear these people but have a sense of pity for them. Nothing can justify our society's timorons alti- tude towards this pernicious perversion. The fact that it exists is bad enough, but to make a display of pride and flaunt it in the faces of the general public is the same as having excrement rubbed in our faces. It stinks! Alexis Maikapar, Terrace B.C. Courageous words Dear Sir: On July 4, I watched a TV show called "A Woman I Know" which celebrates the achieve- ments of Canadian women. The segment was about Canadian author, Jane Rule, who was conferred the degree of Doctor of Letlers by UBC. Upon receiving this degree she remarked that: each of us is made up of a number of minorities. © Some of them privileged; some of them proble- matic. She went on to say thal she was white, well-educated and well-off, She acknowledged that. these privileges could have taught her to be smug, — judgmental and condescending — or to take re- sponsibilily for the gifts in her life and have com-: passion for those not so blessed. She went on to declare that she is a woman, a lesbian and an arthritic; any one of which could have taught her to be a bitter victim. Instead, they have taught her courage and humour. She has writ-" ten about those values in her books. As the show was concluding, Jane Rule said, “Every artist seems to me to have the job to-bear. witness to the world we live in. To some extent J think of all of us as arlists because we have voices and we are cach of us unique, And so if we don't ~ bear witness as citizens, as people, as individuals; the right that we have had to life is sacrificed, There is a silence instead of a speaking presence.” - I applaud Elizabeth Snyder's speaking presence in regard to the city council's decision not to pro- claim a gay pride day this summer. Maybe more of us need to bear witness to the unique truth in our lives and to whal's happening in our city. Joy Lennox, Terrace, B.C. Please note: The name of the writer of “Homosexuality called a sin,” a letter to the editor ott Page A7 o pf the July 12 issue was, left out by mistake. The writer is Keith Oly About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters, Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C., - V8G 5R2. You can fax to 638-8432, And you can e-mail to standard@kermoda.net. No -at- tachments please. We need your name, ad- dress and phone number for verification.