Homosexual activists have protested outside the home of a Christian florist in Canada because she will not provide flowers for a lesbian wedding.
The protestors dropped flowers tied with rainbow-coloured ribbons on the front lawn of the florist’s suburban home, and demanded that she be hauled before the courts.
The intimidating protest was sparked when the lesbian couple’s ‘wedding planner’ wrote about the Christian florist’s stance on Twitter.
Protest
Florist Kim Evans runs her business from her home in Moncton, New Brunswick.
She previously told the lesbian couple by email: “As a born-again Christian, I must respect my conscience before God and have no part in this matter.”
Outside the florist’s home, protestors spoke to news reporters, claiming they were ‘spreading a message of tolerance’.
Outraged
The lesbian couple’s wedding planner did not disclose their names, but said he was appalled and outraged by the Christian florist’s stance.
Kim Evans was not initially told that the couple were lesbians, but when she discovered this, she politely declined their business in an email.
Homosexual activists in Canada and the US are calling for the florist to be taken to the Human Rights Tribunal, even though no case or complaint has been lodged by the unnamed lesbian couple.
Human rights
Mike Judge of The Christian Institute commented: “These activists are spreading a so-called ‘message of tolerance’, yet the one thing they will not tolerate is this Christian lady’s freedom to disagree with them.”
The case has similarities to that of Peter and Hazelmary Bull, the Christian B&B owners who restrict double rooms to married couples.
The Bulls were ordered to pay £3,600 in damages to a homosexual couple but were permitted by the judge to appeal their case, which they have done.
Legal
Same-sex marriages have been legal in Canada since the Civil Marriage Act was passed in 2005.
Under the New Brunswick Human Rights Act, anyone doing business in the province cannot refuse customers based on sexual orientation.
But, as with the Bulls’ case, the courts are required to consider freedom of religion.
Christian printer
Issues of conflicting human rights in Canada have come before the courts before.
In 2000, a Christian printer, Scott Brockie, lost his appeal against the Ontario Human Rights Commission to be allowed to refuse to print stationery for a homosexual business.
However, in that case it was decided that Mr Brockie or his business would not be required “to print material of a nature that could reasonably be considered to be in direct conflict with the core elements of his religious beliefs or creed.”