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Calgary prof uses pastor's anti-gay letter to argue for free speech limits
By JAMES STEVENSON

CALGARY (CP) - A Calgary man hopes his five-year fight to get an anti-gay letter branded as hate literature will provide clearly defined limits to free speech in Alberta.

"Freedom of speech is a precious thing that we need to preserve," Darren Lund said Monday outside an Alberta Human Rights Commission hearing into the issue. "But there are very clear limits on that freedom and when expressing yourself takes away the rights and safety of others, that's where the limits need to be drawn."

Lund's original complaint came from a fiery letter written by Rev. Stephen Boissoin and published in the Red Deer Advocate newspaper in 2002. It said homosexuals and those who defend them were as immoral as pedophiles and drug dealers.

Boissoin, who was a youth pastor in the central Alberta city at the time, went on to say that a war had been declared and the "homosexual machine" would be defeated.

Boissoin wasn't expected to testify at the hearing until Tuesday and wouldn't respond to reporters' questions.

But in previous interviews, he has said it was his democratic right and Christian duty to voice his opinions.

"What I wrote in my letter to the editor is not false, that is my religious belief," Boissoin told The Canadian Press in 2005.

Commission director Marie Riddle said if the panel finds there's been a contravention of the Alberta Human Rights Act, the party can be asked to pay "general damages," but there are no large fines involved.

"Human rights law is not the same as criminal law, where the person found to be in contravention would be punished," she said from Edmonton.

"If there is a contravention of the act, it's all about 'Don't do that again.' "

Lund told hearing commissioner Lori Andreachuk Monday that soon after the letter was written, a story appeared in the Red Deer paper about a gay male teen who was beaten by a group of men in what appeared to be a hate crime.

No charges were laid in the attack and he could not locate the youth to testify at the hearing, but Lund said the report was an example of the effect that such rhetoric might have in the community.

Janelle Dodd, who worked at the youth centre with Boissoin, said his letter caused a split in the community. Soon thereafter, the centre began losing funding and shut down several months later.

Dodd said it was extremely important that she testify at the hearing for Lund, even though she fears "a lot of backlash" from Boissoin and his supporters.

"I'm pro-tolerance, big time. And I think this is a big step."

The hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday and again on Friday in Calgary, with a written ruling expected by the end of September.

Lund, now a University of Calgary education professor, used to teach high school in Red Deer, where he won a human rights award for forming a student anti-prejudice group.

Though he has received "moral support" from many corners, Lund admits he is legally outgunned and running the case himself "as a lay person with no legal background or knowledge in the area" with two volunteer law students helping out.

Acting for Boissoin is Calgary lawyer Gerald Chippeur, who has been described by the deep-pocketed U.S. religious rights group Alliance Defense Fund as an "ADF-allied attorney."

Chippeur could not be reached for comment.

Other Canadian Christian organizations have in the past rallied around Boissoin to fundraise for his legal bills.

"I do feel that there's no way in the world I can compete with that level of legal support," Lund said Monday.

"But I'm still willing to put up the best evidence I can with what resources I have."

Calgary prof uses pastor's anti-gay letter to argue for free speech limits (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/07/16/pf-4344255.html)