Accused pastor 'is simply speaking the truth'

Bishop Fred Henry agrees to speak at a fundraising event for Stephen Boissoin

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

An Alberta pastor now being dragged before the Human Rights Commission for speaking out against the "homosexual machine" is simply speaking the truth, says the bishop of Calgary.

"Pastor (Stephen) Boissoin is not a bigot or a hatemonger; he is very much concerned about the word of God and the teaching of the morality of homosexual activity," Bishop Fred Henry said in a Sept. 28 telephone interview.

Henry will speak at a fundraising event for Boissoin at Calgary's Coast Plaza Hotel Oct. 29 at 5 p.m.

Cave Centre director

Boissoin, presently director of Calgary's Cave Centre for troubled youth, criticized what he perceived as the promotion of the gay lifestyle in schools in a letter to the Red Deer Advocate in June 2002. More than three years later, in November, he will appear before the Human Rights Commission to answer a complaint filled by Dr. Darren Lund, a University of Calgary professor.

"I'm angry that my right to freedom of speech is being challenged in a way that I'm being persecuted for my religious beliefs," Boissoin told the Edmonton Sun Sept. 18. In his letter, Boissoin, then a youth pastor in Red Deer, referred to the "homosexual machine that has been mercilessly gaining ground since the 1960s."

In the letter, he said, "Children are being warped to believe same-sex families are acceptable" and that "men kissing men is appropriate."

Henry, who recently had one of two human rights complaints against him dropped, believes the allegations against Boissoin are unjust and is prepared to support him.

The bishop said society is being the victim of "an aggressive propaganda machine" that's trying to sell the idea that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality and is using the Human Rights Commission as a kind of "thought police" to stifle dissent.

"This is a societal issue and I think that the allegations that are being made against him and the way he's been treated by the Human Rights Commission are inappropriate and downright unjust," he said. "The gay activists' agenda is very clear. They are moving or trying to move society from a point of condemnation through to tolerance to acceptance and now to celebration of the homosexual lifestyle.

"And this is all part of it, so this poor pastor is now being called a bigot, a hatemonger and he is being compared to white supremacists and Holocaust deniers and this is wrong. This is just something that just got way beyond the bounds of acceptability and so I think it's time for people to wake up."

In the interview, Henry accused gay activists of using the Human Rights Commission to stifle dissent in similar ways the Taliban used its infamous religious police. "Right now the Human Rights Commission is a tool to try and silence dissent or to control thinking and so you dare not raise health issues regarding homosexual activity or the dangers of that," he said.

Silenced by courts

"You dare not raise or question the morality of homosexual activity, you dare not quote Sacred Scripture. You know, some of the texts from Sacred Scripture are very clear-cut but you cannot quote those sorts of things because that's regarded as discriminatory."

Henry said Boissoin has not done anything wrong and the complaint against him should be dropped.

"They are just trying to silence him and basically he hasn't done anything wrong other than trying to mobilize people and point out the health and moral issues connected with homosexual activity and its impact upon the education spectrum. So when I was asked if I would come and be part of a fundraising venture for him to help pay for his legal expenses I said 'Sure.'"

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter