Marc Hall, 17.
(Toronto Sun Photo/David Lucas)
Posted on 05/10/2002 3:50:09 PM PDT by Clive
Marc Hall, 17.
(Toronto Sun Photo/David Lucas)
OSHAWA, Ont. (CP) -- A gay Ontario teenager laid out his white tuxedo and pale blue tie Friday and prepared to go to his high school prom, hours after a judge ruled board officials could not stop him from attending with his boyfriend.
Superior Court of Justice Robert MacKinnon granted 17-year-old Marc Hall an injunction Friday afternoon preventing the Durham Catholic School Board from refusing him entry to the end-of-school dance if he escorted his boyfriend of one year Jean-Paul Dumond, 21.
In his ruling, MacKinnon wrote that "the idea of equality speaks to the conscience of all humanity dignity and worth.
"Marc Hall is a Roman Catholic Canadian trying to be himself. He is gay. It's not an answer to Section 15 Charter rights on these facts to deny permission to attend a school function to celebrate the end of his high school career with his classmates."
Hall's lawyer David Corbett said the ruling tells Catholic schools "you can't disciminate on the basis of sexual orientation when you're dealing with young people. You shouldn't be able to do that with anybody, but especially not young people in their care."
Corbett noted that the judge's decision is only an interim ruling, but that the board has indicated it wants to argue its position in a trial. Corbett said Hall is prepared to do the same.
"We'll take it all the way to trial to get a clear precedent. We'll take it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if we have to."
Roger Hutchinson, a professor emeritus of theology at the University of Toronto, said he didn't think the decision would "open the flood gates" and make way for concrete change. But he said it would send a strong message that gay people have basic human rights that must be protected by public institutions.
"It will make all Catholic schools think twice before they make anti-gay decisions."
Hutchinson said that since the 1960s the church has been faced with the question of whether homosexuals deserve the full rights afforded to people of different races and genders.
"The church wouldn't dream of banning a Jewish date from the prom, and the public outcry would likely be greater if they did," said Hutchinson.
Earlier this week, Peter Lauwers, a lawyer for the Durham Catholic School Board, told court the school board has the right under the Constitution to run its schools in accordance with Catholic teachings and if Hall doesn't like it he can go to a public school.
Lauwers called Hall a bad example, and said while the school board accepts gay people, they can't condone or allow homosexual behaviour at a school function.
Corbett argued the board violated the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Education Act and the provincial Code of Conduct, which all bar discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Corbett argued the church's right to consider religious values when regulating students' conduct doesn't trump Hall's human rights.
The boy's fight has drawn high-profile support from politicians, TV stars and union bosses.
Industry Minister Allan Rock wrote an open letter to the school board asking trustees to reverse the ban.
"I encourage you to set an example, for all Canadians, of social justice in action by not discriminating against a student based on sexual orientation," Rock wrote.
Hall was feted at a gay rights group gala on Parliament Hill last month.
Guy Gagnier, host of PrideVision TV's current affairs show Shout!, and actors Jack Wetherall and Sherry Miller from the popular television series Queer as Folk were there to offer support.
The cause has even vaulted Hall onto the small screen, with appearances on the reality show The Lofters and an upcoming episode of Queer as Folk.
Superior Court judges are appointed by the Federal government which means that most of them were appointed by a Liberal government.
This ruling, if it stands, nullifies the protection afforded to Catholic schools under the British North America Act (Now incorporated into the Constitution Acts 1867-1982) because it means that the courts can over-ride any decision based on religion.
Catholic schools in Ontario are now fully funded from tax dollars. When the Ontario government moved from partial funding to full funding, a friend phoned me and said "isn't it great, now we get full funding" to which I replied to the effect that it was merely the first step in a process which will eliminate Catholic schools.
Two of the Catholic schools having the best scholastic reputation (both boys' schools) apparently came to the same conclusion. Soon after full funding was introduced, they both withdrew from the Separate School system and reverted to their former status as private schools.
Now the separate school system is in the process of converting the boys' and girls' schools still in the system into co-educational schools.
So why is Cardinal Law in trouble, again?
Sounds like the golden rule... he who has the gold makes the rules. Bad choice.
They blew it and this case right here is the price that they must now pay.
VERMONT
I fully expect that he will, as an NDP candidate and a protoge of Svend Robinson.
I suspect that he is only Catholic to the extent that he can use the status to do some first class ordure stirring.
I'd love to see them enforce that. What are they going to do -- make them unlock the doors?
This putz sounds a lot like Walker D. Miller of the U.S. 10th Circuit in Denver. Did Canada allow Clinton to appoint Canadian judges too?
In fact the law is that Catholic education enjoys protection in English Canada and Protestant Education enjoys protection within French Canada.
This is built into the British North America Act 1867 which is the founding statute that created Canada and it was carried forth into the Constitution Acts 1867-1982. As such it is part of the Constitution of Canada.
A protected religious right is meaningless if the courts can supplant their own moral standards for the standards of the church whose rights are ostensibly protected.
There is no statute in Ontario that governs who must be allowed to attend a high school prom.
It is not Holy Mother Church that is breaking the law, it is this judge who is breaking a solemn covenant which was one of the conditions precedent to the colonies agreeing to join in a Confederation.
The School Board will, of course, appeal and this case is probbly on the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where I would fully expect Quebec to join as amicus curiæ to protect the several rights and prerogatives that were a condition precedent to it joining Confederation.
The same sort of sophistry that is used in your argument is the sort that has been used in the United States to gut the right of citizens to keep and carry arms under the United States Constitution.
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