Judge rules Newfoundland discriminated against marriage commissioner who refused to do gay ‘weddings’
ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland, February 12, 2015 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – A Supreme Court judge in Newfoundland says the province discriminated against a marriage commissioner who was forced to resign in 2005 after she refused to conduct same-sex “weddings.” Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice Alphonsus E. Faour said that the province's conduct was "a prima facie case of religious discrimination" on the basis of Desirée A. Dichmont’s religious beliefs . In his February 9 ruling, he ordered the province's Human Rights Tribunal to give a full hearing to a complaint by Dichmont complaint that the province violated her religious and conscience rights. A Second World War veteran and recipient of the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals, Dichmont was a marriage commissioner from 1997 to 2005. As a Christian, she believes marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman. In January 2005, Ms. Dichmont was forced to resign as a civil marriage commissi