Censorship Or Less Discrimination? Sexual Orientation Hate Propaganda in Multiple Perspectives
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More Censorship or Less Discrimination? Sexual Orientation Hate Propaganda in Multiple Perspectives Jonathan Cohen* If hate propaganda pits anti-censorship advocates Les minoritds smexules occupent une poitioa ambi- against ani-discrimi ion advocates, sexual minorities oc- gu'd dans I da at sur la propaganda haimuse. qui oppose cupy an ambiguous position in this debate. Because they les partisans de mesmtes anti-cnsure Aiceux dz nur often find themselves fighting against censorship--and ant-discrimination. En effet. parce qu'cItes doiet sou- have, at least in the United States, made more gains in this vent ddfendre leur propre liber6 d'expressioa et oat. str- area than in that of equal protection-sexual minorities tout aux ttats-Unis connu dans cc domainmdis sur cs have traditionally promoted strong freedom of expression plus significatifs que dans ceii d ldgafitS d protection. values. However, recent advances in jurisprudence inter- les minorits sexuelles se son faites les dfen-urs d la li- preting the Canadian Charier of Rights and Freedoms. bert6 d'exprcssion. Les prj8 r¢s de lajurispnxuenre particularly the inclusion of sexual orientation as an analo- sous la Charre canadienme des drois el libercs. doant gous prohibited ground for discrimination under section 15, rinclusion de l'oientation sexulle au nombre des motifs have prompted sexual minorities to pursue a vigorous anti- analogues de discrimination prohil. oant touzefois men discrimination agenda. This agenda recently culminated in ces minoritds a faire de la lue judiciaire conte la discri- the Supreme Court of Canada's decisions in riend v. Al- mintation une priorit. Leur ction mna 5 des r&..d berta and M. v. H., which, by reading sexual orientation concrets Atravers les dkisions de la Cour supi'me du Ca- into a provincial human rights statute and extending nada dans Vend c. Albena et At. c. H. qui supportent par spousal support to same-sex couples, provide considerable une autorit6 considtrable 1'extemion des dispositions du authority for extending Canada's Criminal Code hate Code criminel portant sur la propaganda hainec at, mi- propaganda provisions to sexual minorities. At the same noritds sexuelles. Lc droit comparn et international - en time, a growing body of comparative and international particulier la d6cision du Comitd des drols d 'Homme law--in particular the United Nations Human Rights des Nations Unies dans Toonen c. Australie - pennt Committee's recent decision in Toonen v. Australia-has 6galement de constater un d argissement des nomas ani- extended the norm of anti-discrimination to sexual minori- discrimination aux minoritds sexuelles. Ces dlvhlae- ties. These developments, combined with Canada's well- ments r:ents, s'ajouant a I'engagement du Canadai cii- established commitment to criminalizing hate and its minaliser les manifestations de hai et Z ccIuL plus rdcent. emerging commitment to substantive equality, suggest that h protiger le droit A I',gali mhe nt A[a conclusion qua la sexual orientation hate propaganda is best analyzed as an propagande haineusc relide i'orientation sexulle doit etre issue of discrimination, not censorship. This conclusion analyst en termes de discrimination plutZt qua de censure. should commend the extension of hate propaganda meas- Cette conclusion devrait mmr m2e les aztivi es homo- ures to protect sexual minorities to even those gay rights sexuels qui craignent Ils limitations aum droits d: la per- activists who dread further incursions into civil liberties. sonne a supporter I'extension des mesures comic la propa- gande haineuse arm de promger lea membres des minoritls sexuelles. "BA. cwn laude (Yale), M.PhiL (Cambridge), LL.B. (Toronto); beginning a clerkship with Justice Michel Bastarache at the Supreme Court of Canada in January 2001. The author would like to thank Professor IrvAn Coder, M.P, for whose seminar this paper was first written. © McGill Law Journal 2000 Revue de droit de McGill 2000 To be cited as: (2000) 46 McGill L. 69 Mode de rfdrence: (2000) 46 R.D. McGill 69 MCGILL LAW JOURNAL / REVUE DE DROIT DE MCGLL [Vol. 46 Prologue: The Third Wave I. The Victim's Perspective I1. Sanctions against Sexual Orientation Hate Propaganda A. Criminal Sanctions B. Other Provisions I1l. An International Perspective IV. A Comparative Perspective V. Strategic Dilemmas A. Freedom "of"or Freedom "from"? B. A Hierarchy of Claims? VI. Options for Reform A. Challenging the Criminal Code B. Revisiting Group Defamation Conclusion: Towards a Model of Holistic Advocacy 2000] J. COHEN - SEXUAL ORIENTATION HATE PROPAGANDA Prologue: The Third Wave WASHINGTON, DC-The bulletin board of the Matthei Shepard Online Resources Web site... was shut down Monday as a result of a coordinated attack by thousand[s] of anti-gay fans of pro-wrestler Mick Foley Folq"s supporters,angered that the slain student was winning a 2ime magazine online pollfor "Man of the Year"... ovenhelmed the board with a cn- tinuous onslaught of anti-Shepardand anti-gay messages, requiring the site to be temporarilyshut down. "On the same day Matt's mont announced the Matthew Shepard Founda- tion, thousands of wrestlingfans descended onto my site to belittle Matt's death and attack gay people" said John Armosis ... who has been man- aging the site since Shepard's attack and deatL "They wrote 'AIDS kills fags, and so do I', and called Matt faggot', 'little queer,' and 'DeadHomo of the Year.' It was absolutely sickening" ... North America is undergoing a "third wave" of hate propaganda, the first having been the rise of anti-Jewish and anti-Black hate propaganda in the 1960s, and the sec- ond the expansion and prosecution of those efforts in the 1970s and 1980s! The third wave is characterized by the dissemination of cyberhate, the expansion of target groups, and the corresponding rise in hate crimes directed at women and members of minority groups The interplay of these three trends is poignantly illustrated by the above news release, which describes how Web-savvy bigots sought to drown out pub- lic sympathy for Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student who was bru- tally tortured and left to die because he was gay. After days of hate-filled postings, several regular visitors to the site begged the systems operator to dismantle the bulle- tin board, effectively destroying an online community of activists and mourners! In a twist of irony, the so-called "marketplace of ideas" functioned to silence members of a vulnerable minority. Despite its promises of "electronic democracy", the information superhighway too often collapses into Darwinian struggles such as this one. Chris Gosnell writes, "It ' Wtred Strategies, News Release, "Vttual Violence Closes Shepard Message Board" (17 Decem- ber 1998), online: Wired Strategies <httpJ/vwv.wiredst=tegies.cormshepardx.hml> (date accessed: 8 April2 1999). Library of Parliament, Hate Propagandaby P. Rosen, rev. ed. (Ottara: Canada Communication Group, 1996) at 1-4. 3 See generally C. Gosnell, "Hate Speech on the Internet A Question of Context" (199S) 23 Queen's LJ. 369; M.-F Major, "Sexual-Orientation Hate Propaganda: Time to Regroup" (1996) 11:1 Can. L. & Soc. 221 [hereinafter "Sexual-Orientation Hate Propaganda"]; National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Anti-Lesbian, Gayi; Bisexual and Transgendered Ilolence in 1997, 4th ed. (Detroit Triangle Foundation, 1998). 4 Wred Strategies, supra note 1. MCGILL LAW JOURNAL / REVUE DE DROIT DE MCGILL [Vol. 46 is a paradox that a medium with almost limitless potential for fostering diverse forms of social exchange across traditionally impermeable boundaries and borders, may also create and antagonize those divisions"' Indeed, even though Canadians are suppos- edly protected from hate promotion through a variety of criminal and administrative sanctions, messages like the one above are currently protected by the Constitution of the United States, no matter where they are transmitted.' In light of this protection, it may be somewhat optimistic to suggest that expanding Canada's sanctions would re- duce sexual orientation hate propaganda. As I shall argue, however, such expansion may be a necessary first step in combatting this proliferating form of vilification. The idea of expanding of Canada's anti-hate laws to protect sexual minorities has recently attracted legislative attention at both the federal and provincial levels. In Oc- tober 1999, NDP member of Parliament Svend Robinson introduced a private mem- ber's bill' that would expand the definition of "identifiable group" respecting hate propaganda in the Criminal Code0 to include "any section of the public distinguished by ... sexual orientation"' The impetus behind Robinson's bill was, among other things, the anti-gay hatred generated by the Kansas-based Reverend Fred Phelps.'" Phelps, whose message of hatred and homophobia is widely available on the Internet, gained notoriety in Canada when he threatened to stage an anti-gay demonstration on the front lawn of the Supreme Court." Along with specific attacks such as those di- rected at Matthew Shepard, Phelps's invective represents a growing body of hate ' Gosnell, supra note 3 at 439. 'Ile First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of speech: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (U.S. Const. amend. I). The U.S. Supreme Court has withheld First Amendment protection from speech that poses a "clear and present danger that [it] will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent" (Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 52 (1919)), which has further been held to include "'fighting' words" (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire,315 U.S. 568, 572 (1942)), and "inciting or producing immi- nent lawless action and ... likely to incite or produce such action" (Brandenburgv.