Michael Ruse: Let the bigots rant

[w8liftinglady]

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/10/24/michael-ruse-let-the-bigots-rant/

Of all of the people with whom I would want to sit down and break bread, William Whatcott is at the bottom of my list. He is a Canadian who thinks that homosexuals are sodomites, that they should be kept out of the public schools and that the Bible teaches that the gay lifestyle is one of “sin and depravity.” Second on my not-wanted-at-table list is the Canadian pastor Stephen Boissoin, who compares gay activists to pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps.

But should the state shut them up? In Canada, it does. Whatcott has been fined $17,500 after four people complained that they were offended by his words and actions (he stuffs mail boxes with pamphlets). Boissoin was fined $5,000 and made to write a letter of apology to a University of Calgary professor who complained that Boisson’s words offended him.