Christian fined for refusing to officiate at imaginary “wedding”

“A Saskatchewan human rights tribunal has fined Regina marriage commissioner Orville Nichols $2,500 for refusing to ‘marry’ two homosexual men who approached him for the ceremony in 2005.

“Mr. Nichols told the two men, identified only as ‘M.J.’ and his partner as ‘B.R.’ in the court documents, he would not marry them because it went against his religious convictions as a devout Baptist, but referred them to another commissioner, Edna McCall, because he was aware that she would perform same sex ‘marriages’.

“The court documents reveal that the complainant M.J. was 51 years old at the time of the hearing last year, had been married for about seventeen years and had three children, and ‘did not realize that he was a homosexual until after he was divorced.‘”

(…)

“Mr. Nichols said of the ruling against him, ‘I am very disappointed in the decision. I broke the law because of my religious beliefs,’ but added that he may launch an appeal if he can get more financial support to back his fight.”

To contact Premier Brad Wall:

The Honourable Brad Wall
Premier of Saskatchewan
226 Legislative Building
Regina, Saskatchewan
CANADA S4S 0B3
Telephone: (306) 787-9433
Facsimile: (306) 787-0885
E-mail: [email protected]

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Kate writes:

Be sure to ask how it came to pass that an individual is considered a “public official” obligated to set aside their Charter rights when performing a state function — but a “private citizen” on the hook for their own legal defense when set up for a human rights sting operation [meaning the laughable set-up case, above]?

Every marriage commissioner (or any other public official) in the province should be thinking long and hard right now about their own personal exposure. Poligamy hasn’t yet been tested in the courts in regards to charter rights — would it be prudent in this legal atmosphere to refuse a ceremony joining a man and his second husband?