Angry in the Great White North

News from Calgary:

A man has dropped a human rights complaint against a Roman Catholic bishop over comments he made that condemned homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Calgary Bishop Fred Henry met with Norman Greenfield on Thursday at the request of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Greenfield was one of two people to file a complaint after Henry wrote a letter to his parishioners last spring comparing homosexuality to prostitution, adultery and pornography, and accused it of undermining "the foundations of the family."

He also urged the Alberta government to use its "coercive power" to prevent gays from marrying.

But Greenfield said that after listening to Henry's explanation, he now believes he simply misunderstood what the bishop was trying to say.

The bishop did speak to reporters, saying the meeting was private. I do think Bishop Henry should at least acknowledge that a face-to-face meeting, which is the normal first step in the complaints process, was more successful than he anticipated:

The first step of the human rights investigation will be to attempt a conciliation between the complainants and Henry, but the bishop is doubtful such a process would be fruitful.

"If I'm going to be talking to a blank wall that's not even going to look at the documentation that I'm giving by way of response to the human rights commission . . . my time is pretty valuable and I'm not going to go through a Mickey Mouse procedure with no hope of success," said Henry.

"I stand by the letter, I wouldn't change one comma, one iota of that letter."

Perhaps the common ground here was the fact that both Fred Henry and Norman Greenfield are men of faith:

When reached for comment, Greenfield, a member of the United Church and occasional guest columnist for the Herald, said he respects Henry's right to preach church doctrine, but believes the public letter went too far.

It also helps that they've worked together before:

"I have a lot of respect for the man ... he's done great work in bringing social issues to the fore," says Greenfield, adding he campaigned with Henry against VLTs in 2001.

"I just think he's wrong on this one."

Moreover, Greenfield was just using the Alberta Human Rights Commission as a pulpit -- it was about getting media exposure:

In fact, says Greenfield, the entire AHRC exercise he's launched has a lot to do with his and similar voices lacking a pulpit on the gay rights issue in a decidedly hostile province.

"It's the only tool I could find to bring it out into the open -- the media in Calgary weren't asking the questions that should be asked," says Greenfield, 47, a thoroughly heterosexual father of one who's worked as a communications consultant.

What's more, there's no legislative body to effectively hear the concerns of Henry's opponents, he argues.

He just wants to put the bishop on the spot.

Now how is that going to play with the folks who really believe that the Roman Catholic Church is an affront to human rights, should be stripped of it's tax-free status, should be compelled to comply with secular legislation with regards to employment, and never quote politically incorrect scripture again?

As far as I can tell, Carol Johnson, a lesbian, and the other individual complainant, has no history with Bishop Henry, no common ground, no shared values. I think there's a fair chance that Bishop Henry is still going to be hauled in front of the Commission before all this is over, and that we will have a ruling on whether a clergyman's voiced opinion constitutes an act of discrimination subject to punishment by the State.