On November 29, 2005 the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal rendered judgment on a case between a same sex couple and the Knights of Columbus. In summary, the couple booked the Knights of Columbus hall for their wedding reception. The Knights, upon finding the the reception was for a gay couple canceled the booking, refunded the women their money and reimbursed the women for the cost of sending out new invitations and the difference in renting another hall. The women then referred the matter to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.

The Tribunal then rendered the following judgment:

1. the complaint against Ms. Hauser is dismissed;
2. a declaration pursuant to s. 37(2)(b) of the Code, that the Knights and Mr. Lazar, on behalf of the Knights, discriminated contrary to s. 8 of the Code;
3. pursuant to s. 37(2)(a) of the Code, that the Knights and Mr. Lazar are to refrain from committing the same or a similar contravention of s. 8 the Code;
4. that pursuant to s. 37(2)(d)(ii) of the Code, the Knights and Mr. Lazar pay to the complainants the sum of $444.59 for expenses incurred as a result of the contravention of the Code, plus interest, from November 1, 2003 pursuant to the Court Order Interest Act; and
5. that pursuant to s. 37(2)(d)(iii) of the Code the Knights and Mr. Lazar to pay $1,000 to each of Ms. Chymyshyn and Ms. Smith for injury to their dignity, feelings and self-respect.

What this judgment basically says is that the section 8 of the Canadian Human Rights Act trumps the section 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In simple terms it means that gay rights trump religious rights.

Okay, maybe that is a little bit of an oversimplification. What it means is that a religious organization can not discriminate against a person on the basis of their sexual orientation. For the Knights this judgment means is that they can not refuse to allow their hall to be used for activities that are contrary to their beliefs; in this case they can not refuse to rent out their hall for the purposes of celebrating a gay marriage.

The link to the judgment is http://www.bchrt.bc.ca/decisions/2005/pdf/Smith_and_Chymyshyn_v_Knights_of_Columbus_and_others_2005_BCHRT_544.pdf
The link to the Canadian Human Rights Act is http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/H-6/31435.html
The link to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/