{"id":9327,"date":"2022-10-03T20:48:34","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T00:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/?p=9327"},"modified":"2022-10-03T20:48:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T00:48:39","slug":"court-rules-that-the-false-imputation-of-homosexuality-is-not-defamatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/court-rules-that-the-false-imputation-of-homosexuality-is-not-defamatory\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Rules that the False Imputation of Homosexuality is not Defamatory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this recent case, a church going Plaintiff sued a Defendant in defamation for falsely asserting that the Plaintiff was gay.\u00a0 Despite the judge’s conclusion that this was untrue, that this caused a lot of turmoil for the Plaintiff in his church community and with his wife (effectively lowering the plaintiff\u2019s reputation in the eyes of members of the Church), and that the \u201cdefendant\u2019s statements were calculated to produce harm to the plaintiff in the Church<\/em><\/strong>,\u201d the court nonetheless concluded that claim in defamation failed, leading to a dismissal of the claim with costs.<\/p>\n

Although the Defendant did not raise this argument in his own defence, the Ontario Small Claims Court Deputy Judge relied on the legal test for defamation: whether the statements lowered the plaintiff\u2019s reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person (aka: right-thinking members of society).\u00a0 The Deputy judge reasoned that it did not matter whether the church members viewed the Plaintiff less favourably: it was whether the community at large would view the Plaintiff less favourably.\u00a0 Against this backdrop, the judge reasoned that based on today\u2019s societal norms \u201cit is no longer shameful or disgraceful to be described as gay<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reviewing the evolution of the laws in Canada and in Ontario, the judge concluded, at paragraph 37:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears, based on the evidence, that the Church\u2019s opinions regarding homosexuality have not progressed in line with the opinions of Parliament, the Ontario Legislature and a majority of Canadians, but due to the test for defamation being of the \u201creasonable person\u201d, I must dismiss this action despite the lowering of the plaintiff\u2019s reputation in the Church due to the defendant\u2019s words, which below I find the defendant has not proven to be true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Corion v Plummer<\/em><\/strong>, 2022 CanLII 84382 (ON SCSM)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.canlii.org\/en\/on\/onscsm\/doc\/2022\/2022canlii84382\/2022canlii84382.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this recent case, a church going Plaintiff sued a Defendant in defamation for falsely asserting that the Plaintiff was gay.\u00a0 Despite the judge’s conclusion that this was untrue, that this caused a lot of turmoil for the Plaintiff in his church community and with his wife (effectively lowering the plaintiff\u2019s reputation in the eyes… Continue reading Court Rules that the False Imputation of Homosexuality is not Defamatory<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[198,199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defamation","category-small-claims-court","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt Rules that the False Imputation of Homosexuality is not Defamatory - 360Mediations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Defamation is gauged against right thinking people of society, and today it is no longer shameful or disgraceful to be described as gay.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/court-rules-that-the-false-imputation-of-homosexuality-is-not-defamatory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court Rules that the False Imputation of Homosexuality is not Defamatory - 360Mediations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Defamation is gauged against right thinking people of society, and today it is no longer shameful or disgraceful to be described as gay.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/court-rules-that-the-false-imputation-of-homosexuality-is-not-defamatory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"360Mediations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-04T00:48:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-04T00:48:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/COURT-DECISIONS-360MEDIATIONS-1x1-1.png?fit=406%2C322&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"322\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David M. 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