British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal Hears Complaint Made By Gay Couple Denied Accommodation By Christian Bed And Breakfast Owners, Mormon Church Receives Small Fine For Failing To Report In-Kind Donations To Yes On 8 Campaign, Justice Vaughn Walker Asks Both Sides In Proposition 8 Trial Difficult Questions, Iowa Gay Marriage Primary Debate Fails To Materialize

Susan and Les Molnar are before a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal hearing in Kelowna Wednesday there to argue that they have right to freedom of religion, consequently they were within the parameters of the law when they turned away a gay couple, Shaun Eadie and Brian Thomas in June, 2009. According to the complaint filed by the gay couple, they reserved a room requesting only one bed, speaking with Mrs. Molnar. Moments later, Mr. Molnar called and asked if they were a gay couple, the subsequently cancelled the booking. Eadie and Thomas then filed a complaint. In March of this year, Mr and Mrs. Molnar applied to have the complaint dismissed, Les Molnar saying “to allow a gay couple to share a bed in my Christian home would violate my Christian beliefs and would cause me and my wife great distress.” He added that to have allowed the booking would be to encourage “something which I believe to be wrong according to my religious beliefs and my understanding of scripture.” The application to dismiss was denied. The province’s Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The hearing is likely to last two days.

The Mormon Church has admitted it reported in-kind campaign contributions made to the pro-Proposition 8 campaign in the final weeks prior to the passage of the voter amendment in November, 2008 late and agreed to pay the California Fair Political Practices Commission a small $5,000 fine. The FPPC identified thirteen instances of “non-monetary late contributions made and not timely reported” totalling some $36, 928 in in-kind contributions to the Yes on 8 committee that fought to effectively eliminate the right of gay men and women in the state to legally marry. According to a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesperson, Scott Trotter, “in the late two week leading up to the election, the Church mistakenly overlooked the daily reporting requirement and instead reported those contributions together in a later filing.”

In advance of final arguments in the federal trial challenging the constitutional validity of Proposition 8, United States Chief Justice Vaughn Walker posted more than nine pages of questions for the attorneys of both the defendants and the plaintiffs. Walker, an erudite legal mind, pressed the sponsors of the voter amendment to connect their arguments to empirical evidence, asking what evidence introduced showed that same sex marriages are “a drastic or far-reaching change to the institution of marriage” He suggested that if, as was argued, that many voters were expressing their moral and religious beliefs, “why is legislating based on moral disapproval of homosexuality not tantamount to discrimination?” Final arguments, expected to last an entire day, are scheduled to be heard June 16th.

The purported debate over the legalization of gay marriage in Iowa last spring after the state Supreme Court ruled a ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional was to have been played out Tuesday as Americans went to the polls in a primary, but that argument never materialized. Instead, the state’s voters appeared more concerned with the economy, employment, and the state’s troublesome budget. Republican Terry Branstad won the Republican gubernatorial candidacy; the former governor of Iowa will face Democrat incumbent Chet Culver in November. The horrifically homophobic Republican candidate Bob Vander Plaats finished a distant third among three.