An anti-gay activist who helms the group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality was initially detained at the Regina airport and questioned by Canada Border Services officials, then allowed to enter.
Peter LaBarbera, who is scheduled to speak at a Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference in Weyburn, described his interaction with border agents as “Orwellian” on Twitter. In a statement on his website, he says officials presented him with a document “outlining my denial of entry under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,” citing hate propaganda provisions. LaBarbera says he was questioned about his conference presentation and had his luggage, laptop and cellphone examined.
“A preliminary decision was made to deny my entrance into Canada on the basis that my speech at the SPLA would violate Canada’s ‘Hate Propaganda’ law (essentially the potential for ‘public incitement of hatred’ against a group of people based on their ‘sexual orientation’),” he notes in the statement.
He alleges he was “flagged” at the border because of efforts by the group Intolerance Free Weyburn to stop him from entering the country.
LaBarbera, who was allowed entry after a hearing, told media that his website has “many, many statements [saying] we do not hate people, we don’t hate gays and lesbians, we disagree with homosexual activism, we believe homosexual behaviour is immoral, but that doesn’t equate with hating people.”
At a 2013 conference in Kingston, Jamaica, LaBarbera urged Jamaicans to fight off calls for the repeal of the country’s buggery law. He told attendees not to follow in the footsteps of the US and Britain by permitting LGBT activists to “achieve dominance” in their society, BuzzFeed reports. LaBarbera criticized the American government for its support of LGBT rights, saying he hopes the Caribbean island learns “from our mistakes and from lessons of history and avoids the inevitable moral corruption and health hazards and the danger to young people that come from capitulating to this sin movement that calls itself gay.”
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