Canada: Anti-gay hate group leader found innocent of ‘mischief’ charge
The leader of a listed hate group has been found innocent of a mischief charge, after distributing graphic homophobic leaflets at a Canadian university.
Peter LaBarbera – the head of homophobic hate group Americans for Truth about Homosexuality – was initially detained at the border in April, while attempting to enter Canada.
He was eventually allowed to enter the country – only to be arrested a day later for refusing to leave the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, where he had been distributing “graphic” hate literature without permission.
However, LaBarbera and fellow activist Bill Whatcott were both found not guilty by Judge Marylynne Beaton of the Regina Provincial Court this week.
The judge wrote: “The validity of [their] beliefs are not in issue.
“I find that the purpose of (their) attending the University of Regina was to communicate information and their actions were passive and non-aggressive. The university’s response was disproportionate to the peaceful distribution of flyers.”
LaBarbera claimed: “It is preposterous in a country that claims to be free to criminalize dissenting speech at a public university.
“Yet this is what University of Regina administrators sought to do by cowardly attempting to banish Bill Whatcott and me from their campus.
“In the process they dishonoured their students–who deserved better than clumsy attempts at censorship justified by condescending and odious appeals to ‘protect’ them from ‘hate’.
“The Left in Canada, as in the United States, does not want debate but rather control.
“They fear unfettered exposure to moral truth and compelling facts about homosexuality–hence their campaign to silence Christians and others who speak out against sexual immorality and gender rebellion.”
Americans for Truth about Homosexuality is listed as an active anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre.
