Government Censorship

Christian on Trial for Telling Dangers of Homosexuality

Government charges 'mischief' for presentation to university students

The head of an American nonprofit organization is scheduled to face trial in Canada later this month on a charge of “mischief” for discussing with college students the dangers of homosexuality.

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, reported on his organization’s website that he will return to Regina, Saskatchewan, for a trial on a count of criminal “mischief” which developed in April “after we resisted a police order to abandon our peaceful pro-life/pro-family protest at the University of Regina.”

LaBarbera said that at the April 14 protest at the University of Regina he held up someone’s sign that said “Sodomy Is a Sin” and a large placard showing an unborn baby.

He wrote: “Who can blame the University of Regina and Canadian cops for cracking down on such unbridled and sinister HATE?!”

After the arrest, he said, the university provost and vice president, Thomas Chase, was quoted in the newspaper as saying his materials were “graphic” and “disturbing.”

Among them was his one-page flier on ‘Homosexual Health Risks.”

“Leftists like to use government and institutions to control others, and they often fear a robust and free exchange of competing ideas,” LaBarbera said. “This explains U-Regina’s censorship and squelching of a debate that actually would have benefited its students. (We had friendly discussions with some young adults before the arrest.) Such bureaucratic speech ‘protection’ dishonors students, who by the time they reach college should be able to hear all sides of every issue and make decisions for themselves on what they believe.”

He said his attorney believes he has a good chance of beating the mischief charge.

“Some Americans have asked me: Why are you even returning to Canada after all that you went through there?” he wrote.

LaBarbera explained he wanted to clear his name so he wouldn’t be effectively barred from the country.

“I simply don’t like to concede ground and basic freedoms to the Pro-’Gay’ Thought Police – at a time when U.S.-based homosexual militants are encouraging fellow LGBT activists abroad to shut down ‘anti-gay’ speech,” he said. “We must never give up on Canada or any nation to return to ways that honor God.”

LaBarbera noted that in the Bible, the ban on homosexuality is “sandwiched in between children being sacrificed to Molech and bestiality.”

The trial is scheduled Oct. 27.

WND reported in April that when LaBarbera arrived at the Canadian border, officials wanted to turn him away.

LaBarbera, who had been invited to Canada to speak at a pro-life event, told WND that an adjudicator at a Canadian Customs hearing confirmed officials eventually relented.

“They let us in,” LaBarbera told WND. “She gave me my passport. They will verify that I’ve left the country [later], but I get to speak.”

He reportedly had been targeted by a group called Intolerance Free Weyburn, which apparently complained to the government that LaBarbera carried an agenda of “hate” with him.

The Customs paperwork prepared for LaBarbera when his flight landed late said LaBarbera is “a foreign national who has not been authorized to enter Canada and who, in my opinion, is inadmissible pursuant to: Paragraph 37(2)(c) … on grounds of criminality for committing an act outside Canada that is an offence in the place where it was committed and that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an indictable offence under an act of parliament.”

The paperwork cited the crime of “public incitement of hatred.”

The entire issue, he said, rests on the fact that homosexual activists are unwilling to tolerate other views, such as the pro-family and pro-traditional marriage perspective he advocates through his nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.

A report posted earlier on his blog, Barbwire.com, explained LaBarbera was released temporarily to the custody of Bill Whatcott, a prominent activist in Canada, when he arrived at Regina International Airport.

LaBarbera wrote:

After questioning me about the purpose of my scheduled presentation at the SPLA event; rifling through my luggage, which contained numerous books and literature related to homosexual (pro and con); examining the contents of my laptop and my cell phone; playing a DVD of my speech Wednesday at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio; and critically viewing AFTA’s website – a preliminary decision was made to deny my entrance into Canada on the basis that my speech at the SPLA would violate Canada’s ‘Hate Propaganda’ law (essentially the potential for ‘public incitement of hatred’ against a group of people based on their ‘sexual orientation’). The [Orwellian] experience at Customs dragged on for more than three hours as a formal document was issued outlining my denial of entry under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

LaBarbera’s topic at the pro-life conference was the link between pro-abortion and the homosexual activism.

BarbWire identified Canadian border agent Darren Bannick as the one who told him evidence was found on the Web, on AmericansforTruth.com, of him “targeting” a group of people based on their sexual orientation.

Whatcott said: “Peter hasn’t done anything illegal. All the illegal activity is from the homosexual activists. It’s illegal to call people names in Canada, and they’ve violated the law a thousand times.”

A statement LaBarbera posted online explained his perspective.

As an evangelical Christian, I believe that all people, including homosexuals, must be treated with respect and the grace of Christ. As a sinner myself, I am no ‘better’ than the man or woman engaged in homosexual sin. We all need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

I adhere to the universal philosophy shared by so many who follow Christ: ‘Love the sinner. Hate the sin,.’ In fact, if I truly lacked compassion and hated homosexuals as my detractors falsely and maliciously claim, I would not have been invited to speak by the leaders of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association.

It has become clear in recent years that OPPONENTS of the homosexual activist agenda have become frequent victims of ‘unjust discrimination.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/christian-on-trial-for-telling-dangers-of-homosexuality/