A rural town on the border of Ontario and Minnesota was fined for refusing to celebrate “Pride Month” in June, according to a report from Fox News.
Reportedly, Emo, Ontario was found to have violated the Ontario Human Rights Code by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The town has a population of about 1,300.
Emo did not proclaim June as Pride Month and was also issued a citation for its failure to fly "an LGBTQ2 rainbow flag,” Fox noted.
In addition to a $10,000 fine, officials from Emo were ordered to complete mandatory "human rights" training.
The National Post noted that the dispute began in 2020 when the town was approached by the group Borderland Pride with a written request to proclaim June as Pride Month. Attached to this letter was a draft proclamation, including statements like “pride is necessary to show community support and belonging for LGBTQ2 individuals” and “the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression represents a positive contribution to society.”
The town was also asked to fly an “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag for a week of your choosing.”
Reportedly, Borderland Pride’s draft proclamation was tabled before a May 2020 meeting of the Emo Township Council, where it was defeated by a vote of three to two.
Borderland Pride claimed discrimination as a result. Reportedly, Emo Mayor Harold McQuaker was heard to say in a recording of the meeting, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin … there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”
These kinds of requests did not happen much in Emo, the Tribunal noted.
“The record indicated the Township did not receive many requests for declarations or proclamations or requests for display of a flag,” the Tribunal decision read. In a single 12-month period they received four — two of which were from Borderland Pride.
Human Rights Tribunal vice-chair Karen Dawson also wrote, “I find this remark was demeaning and disparaging of the LGBTQ2 community of which Borderland Pride is a member and therefore constituted discrimination under the Code.”
There were five days of hearings into the case. During the hearings, Emily Saewyc, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Nursing, spoke. She was reportedly cited as “an expert on the LGBTQ2 community.”
“Dr. Saewyc testified that one of the ways that negative speech contributes to harms is through tacitly encouraging others to imitate that discriminatory speech,” read the decision, which cited Saewyc’s claim that U.S. President Donald Trump inspired “hate and violence” against the LGBTQ community.
Ultimately, the Human Rights Tribunal ordered the Township to pay $10,000 to Borderland Pride, and for McQuaker to personally pay them another $5,000.
McQuaker and Emo’s chief administrative officer were also ordered to complete an online course known as “Human Rights 101” and “provide proof of completion … to Borderland Pride within 30 days.”
Reportedly, in a statement celebrating the decision, Borderland Pride noted that Emo joins both London and Hamilton in the category of Ontario communities that have been “sanctioned for refusing to adopt proclamations in support of their local Pride organizations.”