| University of Calgary professor Darren Lund sits in his office and leafs through a thick file folder of e-mails and letters full of lines like "homosexuality is a sin… you’ll get what you deserve in the afterlife," "a faggot is a cordwood that fuels hell," and "if you get AIDS and die I will have a party." The most disturbing piece of mail Lund has received included a newspaper photograph of former NDP MP Svend Robinson with a target drawn on his face and the words "Darren Lund sodomite," "Oh wicked Darren Lund time is running out" and "I see what you do with small boys on campus."
Lund has garnered the wrath of many on the radical right-wing fringe since filing a human rights complaint in 2002 against Reverend Stephen Boissoin, then the central Alberta chairman for the Concerned Christian Coalition. The complaint revolved around a letter Boissoin wrote that was published in the Red Deer Advocate. Boissoin wrote that his letter was "aimed at every individual that in any way supports the homosexual machine that has been mercilessly gaining ground in our society." He went on to write "my banner has now been raised and the war has been declared so as to defend the precious sanctity of our innocent children and youth, that you so eagerly toil, day and night, to consume." Boissoin also stated "where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds," "homosexual rights activists and those that defend them, are just as immoral as the pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps that plague our community," and that, "it is only a matter of time before some of these morally bankrupt individuals… will achieve their goal to have sexual relations with children."
Lund believes the letter constitutes a public statement likely to expose a class of persons to discrimination or hatred or contempt contrary to section three of the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act.
The complaint will eventually be heard at an Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission panel hearing. However, the hearing still hasn’t happened due to various procedural delays. Initially, Lund’s complaint was thrown out, but after an appeal the chief commissioner accepted the complaint. Shortly after Lund filed the complaint, Reverend Stephen Boissoin filed a defamation suit against him, which was only dropped in 2005. Lund estimates it cost him around $40,000 to defend himself against the defamation suit. He’s grateful that supporters sent him money to cover the cost of the defamation suit.
In the meantime, Lund has received many "unsettling" letters, e-mails and phone calls. Those angry about the human rights complaint have also called the president of the University of Calgary and his department dean and attempted to get him fired. Lund has also discovered that he and his human rights complaint have made it to U.S. white supremacist David Duke’s website. Duke has posted a letter from Paul Fromm, director of the Canadian Association of Free Expression that says "Religious people, conservatives and White nationalists must be aware, none of us is safe. The politically correct censors, gag artists – the apostles of tolerance who tolerate no dissent – the Richard Warmans, the pushers of the homosexual agenda, the Canadian Jewish Congress are after us all. They’ll tolerate no views but their own… Let the ‘human rights’ mob know that we won’t stand for OUR rights being limited anymore. And end to minority rule! It’s time for the Dispossessed Majority to stand up."
Lund’s complaint is also on Stormfront, another white supremacist website, as well as various right-wing Christian websites in Canada and the U.S. such as Concerned Women for America, which aims to "bring biblical principles into all levels of public policy."
Those opposed to Lund’s complaint argue that what Reverend Boissoin wrote in his 2002 letter should be allowable, because freedom of religion and freedom of speech are protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Reverend Boissoin appears to have many supporters. The Alliance Defense Fund, an American Christian legal organization, is funding Boissoin’s Canadian lawyer, Gerald Chipeur. The Concerned Christians Coalition has held two large fundraisers for Reverend Boissoin at the Coast Plaza Hotel in Calgary to raise money for his legal defence. Before the April 17, 2004 fundraiser the Concerned Christian Coalition sent out an e-mail that described Lund as a "vicious, fanatical and rabid" professor "who is determined to silence Christians in any manner that he can. The e-mail went on to say "the militant homosexual organizations in Canada are choosing Alberta as their new battleground because they know if they can achieve victory in the Bible Belt of Canada the dominoes will fall across Canada and the battle will be lost." In a rallying cry to raise money for Boissoin the e-mail stated "we do not leave our wounded on the battlefield!"
Lund remains shocked by the backlash against the complaint he filed five years ago. "You expect that maybe some people will react if you’re working for equality and justice… but I never expected that kind of virulence," says Lund.
Lund has had previous experience dealing with backlash. While he was a teacher in Red Deer, Lund was involved in an anti-racism group founded by students. He also helped students found the first Gay Straight Alliance in Alberta. For these activities he received angry letters from Holocaust denier James Keegstra and former head of the Aryan Nations in Canada, Terry Long. But he says it was nothing compared to his current fight. "The hate mail in recent years has been quite vicious, quite personal. A lot of it real bullying, intimidation, name calling and a lot of veiled threats," he says.
However, Lund remains determined to keep up the fight. He says the debate over what constitutes free speech and freedom of religion is a "really important debate." Lund says freedom of speech and freedom of religion are "paramount freedoms" but they have to come with responsibility.
"I believe that healthy democracy needs some reasonable limits on our speech and particularly when it comes to expressing an opinion in such a way that could foster hatred or violence. That’s where I think the line is crossed and I think the letter definitely crossed that line. It’s definitely hateful and definitely incites people to violence," he says.
A week and a half after Boissoin’s letter appeared in the Red Deer Advocate a male gay teenager was beaten up. The attackers yelled "fucking faggot" as they broke the youth’s jaw. Lund says that incident was what finally motivated him to file the complaint. "It just seemed to me (the letter) was contributing to a hostile climate in a community that sometimes struggles with acceptance of difference," he says.
The defamation lawsuit against him was the most damaging aspect of his human rights fight so far, he says. "It was designed to wear me down and intimidate me and to send a message to other human rights supporters: let these people stand on their own," he says.
Lund is married with two teenaged children. "I don’t talk about it a lot to them. I don’t bring it up and I don’t share with them any of the hate mail I receive, but they know I do receive it. My kids are teenagers and they’re on the Internet. A quick search of my name and the word gay and you’ll find all kinds of nasty stuff. I think it’s had a negative effect on them."
Still, Lund says it’s also taught his kids that standing up for your convictions can be challenging, but it’s worth it. "The very core of my complaint is quite reasonable and I think I’m standing on a very solid principle here, but it’s hard to see that from time to time," he says.
Ron Ghitter, a former Senator, Alberta MLA and longstanding human rights advocate in the province, raised money to support Lund’s complaint. Ghitter says it’s an important human rights battle. "When someone like Boissoin goes after the sexual orientation issue and says despicable things that are hateful and are designed to demean those who are of a different sexual orientation, others have to come out and defend these people from those comments," says Ghitter.
"How would you feel if you’re gay… and you’re trying to carry on a normal life and some guy’s saying you’re wicked. I’m drawing the battlelines. I’m going to go out and do everything I can to demean you…. That’s not how you operate in a civilized society. However we happen to be born, we should be treated fairly and equally and not discriminated against. That’s just fundamental in any democratic society."
However, Reverend Boissoin has some interesting allies who support his freedom of speech. Egale, Canada’s largest GLBT lobby organization, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) have both spoken out against Lund’s complaint. The CCLA has obtained intervenor status in the human rights complaint.
Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, director of the Freedom of Expression Project with the CCLA, says "it’s not the first time by a long shot that CCLA has sought to intervene to protect freedom of expression of people whose opinions are utterly repugnant. We often find ourselves supporting the right of people to say things that are horrible and offensive, but we feel it’s important that debate and controversy not be stifled, and that means that unpopular opinions have to be heard as well."
Mendelsohn Aviv says freedom of speech should only be restricted if someone is directly inciting violence. "If this speech or publication could be directly and immediately linked to somebody getting hurt that’s very different from someone saying my feelings are hurt. You have the option of responding to the speech, and you have the option to not read it. Here’s a crackpot writing about homosexuals. Why don't I just flip to the sports section," she says.
Tamara Kronis, director of advocacy for Egale Canada, says Egale doesn’t "condone" Reverend Boissoin’s letter. "I find it absolutely heartbreaking that our communities, and our youth in particular, have to be subjected to the kind of language that’s in Boissoin’s letter and I find it absolutely heartbreaking that professor Lund has to be subject to the backlash on it," says Kronis. "Freedom of speech unfortunately involves our community having to be subjected to horrible comments, but we think the best course is to expose his misguided views to public scrutiny."
Kronis says the best way to deal with such commentary is education. "It reinforces why we need to actively make sure that we exercise our rights to free speech and actively counteract the kind of thing Reverend Boissoin is saying."
Darren Lund isn’t the only person who has faced backlash over his complaint. After University of Calgary professor Kevin Alderson, a gay-rights activist, wrote a letter to Alberta’s human rights commission that supported Lund’s complaint he received a disturbing letter. Alderson spoke about the experience at OutRights, a human rights conference that coincided with the recent North America OutGames in Calgary. The letter called Alderson "a wicked pervert" and a child molester and said "sodomites like Kevin Alderson will burn in hell. Repent or face the judgment of God. Laugh off this note if you wish but you are being watched."
Alderson told the audience that gay people in Calgary are still not safe. "I still do not see guys walking hand in hand in this city and that should tell you something," he says. "If this is a truly safe place wouldn’t we begin to see more obvious signs that people are OK here, that they’re comfortable here?"
Meanwhile, Ghitter is incredulous that Lund’s case is still before the commission. "The matter still drags it’s way through the human rights commission who have been seemingly totally incapable of dealing with the matter," says Ghitter. He says during the era of former premier Peter Lougheed the commission was "very high profile" with "high credibility." Now he says it’s a "totally underfunded, understaffed commission unable to deal with these issues."
He says the Lund and Boissoin case is "really a sad indictment I believe of the state of the human rights file in this province," says Ghitter.
Ghitter points out Alberta has a notorious reputation for actively fighting against human rights for GLBT people. Premier Ralph Klein threatened to invoke the notwithstanding clause after a Supreme Court ruling that forced the province to include sexual orientation as a grounds for protection under the province’s human rights act. Alberta was the only province to send legal representatives to argue against same sex marriage before the Supreme Court.
Ghitter says the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission has never taken an active stance on protecting people against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. "They’re there to defend the interests of any minority group that’s being prejudiced in Alberta and that does include the gay population," he says.
Marie Riddle, director of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission, says it’s unfair to say that the commission has been dragging out the Lund case or that the commission doesn’t want to touch the case. "Why wouldn’t we want to deal with this matter? Sexual orientation is a ground that’s protected under our legislation. There is no question that we want to deal with the matter," she says.
Riddell says the case has taken so long because it was dismissed, then the dismissal was overturned and then there have been preliminary matters the panel has had to rule on prior to a formal panel hearing.
Lund estimates he’s spent several hundred hours on this issue and he is anxious to see a resolution. "I think we were all victims of that letter, but if I were an actual victim, a member of a vulnerable group, I would feel five years is a long time to wait to have the commission make a ruling," says Lund. "This is not adequate human rights protection."
Fast Forward was unable to reach Stephen Boissoin’s lawyer Gerald Chipeur for comment on this story by press time. |
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