West end Toronto church launches human rights complaint
September 27, 2018 Toronto -- A United Church minister has launched a human rights complaint against the company that manages the church’s outdoor sign board, because the owner has refused to post messages he views as contrary to his religious beliefs. She says that’s preventing her from expressing her faith.
The Rev. Alexa Gilmour, minister of Windermere United Church, says Archer Signs has refused to post a message which encouraged people to “wish your Muslim neighbours a Ramadan Mubarak [Happy Ramadan];” and another that encouraged people to celebrate diversity during Pride Week.
“Interfaith dialogue and action is a central part of my faith and ministry,” says Ms. Gilmour in her statement of claim. “If Windermere United cannot post the messages we choose then we cannot do the ministry we feel called by God to do.”
KEY MESSAGES
Christians believe all human beings are created in God’s image. This means that a denial of human rights to anyone is a denial of our faith.
“It’s not acceptable for a service provider to limit the way I express my Christian ministry,” said Ms. Gilmour.
“I’m taking this step only because many attempts to resolve this issue through dialogue or mediation have failed.”
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To book an interview with the Rev. Alexa Gilmour, contact:
BACKGROUND
Rev. Alexa Gilmour, with support and participation of the membership of Windermere United, has a history of engagement supporting interfaith and LGBTQ2S, and other human rights issues.
She gave leadership to an interfaith gathering, hosted at Windermere, after the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting and led an interfaith vigil after Toronto’s April 2018 van attack.
She says: “I believe as a matter of faith that all sexual orientations and gender identities are gifts from God, and that persons of every orientation and gender are made in God’s image. I am called to rejoice in diversity, and to resist discrimination against LGBTQ2S persons and their relationships of love and fidelity.
Windermere United Church gave sanctuary to a refugee family under deportation order from June 2013 to Dec 2014. The family was ultimately granted permanent residency status and the lawyer who had initially represented them was convicted of professional misconduct.
The United Church of Canada is known for championing interfaith relations and LGBTQ2S rights.
In a 2006 statement on United Church-Muslim relations, That We May Know Each Other, the church committed itself to “a journey towards reconciliation, understanding and cooperation with our Muslim neighbours.”
In 1988 the church became the first mainline denomination to accept openly gay and lesbian persons as both members and candidates for ordained Ministry. In 2003 it urged the government of Canada to recognize same-sex marriage in federal law.
This was the church sign in February 2017 after the Quebec City mosque shooting (Jan 29). But a few months later the company refused to post "Wish your Muslim neighbours Ramadan Mubarak [Happy Ramadan]" on the grounds that it would encourage "false ideology."