John Carpay
The free society is undermined by the progressive, politically correct claim that the many Canadians who hold traditional or religious views about sexuality are “hateful.” The notion that only post-modernist beliefs about sexual behaviour can be expressed in the public square is an enemy of authentic diversity.
A real-life example of an attack on the free society is unfolding in the Vancouver suburb of New Westminster.
In May of 2018, the City of New Westminster entered into a contract with Grace Chapel, allowing this small church to rent a city facility for a youth conference in July. Grace Chapel is a multi-ethnic community; most of its members come from Nigeria and other African countries. Its vision is to build a “diverse church where people of every nation in our community will worship God.” After Grace Chapel paid the full rental amount, it continued with its planning and preparation for a conference titled “LGBT – Let God Be True.” The conference sought to address the topics of pornography, addictions and human sexuality, from a traditional Christian perspective.
In June 2018, New Westminster suddenly cancelled the conference booking, after learning that one of the conference facilitators was the social conservative activist Kari Simpson. She and her organization, Culture Guard, are well-known in British Columbia for opposing the imposition of the SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) curriculum in public schools.
In a free country like Canada, individuals are supposed to have the liberty to disagree with Simpson’s views, and an equal right to articulate why they believe her perspective is misguided or incorrect. Citizens can attend her events, or not, as they please. They can engage in debate with her, or ignore her. They can call her names, or try to refute her arguments thoughtfully and logically. Individual citizens can discriminate against Simpson by rejecting her opinions, by boycotting her events, and by socially ostracizing her. A homeowner has no obligation to allow Simpson to hold an event on his or her front lawn. Private organizations are free to refuse to provide her a platform.
But governments, at all levels, are entirely different from citizens.
Governments are required by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to respect the fundamental freedoms of speech, religion, conscience, association, and peaceful assembly. Under the Charter, public sidewalks, parks, and public facilities should be available to all Canadians, regardless of their political, moral, religious or philosophical opinions. The moment that a government authority departs from this principle of neutrality is the moment that we have taken a significant step away from the free society.
The City’s cancellation of this conference affects the freedom of all citizens, not just the members of a local, multicultural church. If a government can ban people who express “unacceptable” views from using public property, and get away with it, nothing stops this censorship from spreading to other cities, to other levels of government, and to other “unacceptable” views.
Individual elected representatives and individual public servants have their own political biases and religious (or anti-religious) prejudices. That is to be expected. But government, as an entity that exercises coercive power over citizens, cannot prohibit or impose any particular opinions in public spaces. To protect the rights and freedoms of all citizens, government must avoid becoming a well-intentioned censor that bars “incorrect” views from city sidewalks, parks, and facilities. These spaces belong to all citizens, including those with traditional or religious opinions about human sexuality.
New Westminster claims that Grace Chapel, by including Simpson in its “Let God Be True” conference, violated a City policy against promoting “racism, hate, violence, censorship, crime or other unethical pursuits.”
One is free to decry Simpson’s views as dead wrong, but that does not make them racist, hateful, violent or unfit for the public square. What is more, it is time that secular progressives come to understand the illegitimacy of marshalling the coercive power of the state to impose their views on controversial issues, including differing views on sexuality. The imposition of any one view does not advance tolerance and diversity.
Socially conservative opinions about gender, marriage, and sexual morality may have moved from majority status to minority status in Canada, but that does not make them “hateful” any more than post-modernist or hedonist perspectives on sexuality.
Sadly, New Westminster has dug in its heels. The City plans to spend thousands (likely tens of thousands) of tax dollars to defend in court its decision to trample on the fundamental Charter freedoms of Grace Chapel and its members.
