Lesbians appeal
tribunal decision

They may have won their case, but two lesbians in British Columbia are continuing to appeal a decision by the Human Rights Tribunal. Tracey Smith and Deborah Chymyshyn were awarded $2,000 in damages for the "humiliation" they suffered after the Knights of Columbus refused to rent them a hall for their wedding celebration, The Calgary Herald reported Monday. "The Knights were punished for bad manners, not discrimination," the couple's lawyer, Barbara Findlay, who is the founder of the Canadian Bar Association's gay lawyers group, told the newspaper. "We won the battle. We're nowhere near winning the war." Findlay is appealing to win a finding of discrimination. The Knights say they are protected under a freedom of religion claim. Legal observers said they had problems with various parts of the case. Namely, the couple wanted to rent a hall containing a crucifix and pictures of the Virgin Mary and the pope, yet they say they did not know of the Knights' religious affiliation. And, the "tribunal never specified what the Knights did to injure the lesbians, neither what they did wrong nor, given their religious obligation, what they could have done otherwise," the newspaper reported. (Advocate.com)